Sophie watched with interest as Alice returned to her training. She found herself enraptured by Alice’s face as she saw the varied emotions on the younger woman’s face. Focus, despondence, anger then back to focus. She gave it a fifty-fifty chance that Alice would succeed in grabbing hold of her mana during this lesson. After all, she succeeded in recognising it in less than an hour.
She felt small fluctuations coming from Alice with increasing frequency, waves, almost like sound of someone plucking on a string. Putting some energy into her eyes, she turned on [mana sight], allowing her to see the ethereal around her.
She rarely did it nowadays. Outside of the safety of her workshop it was a dangerous thing. The world was saturated with mana and every time one opened their eyes to it, outside of highly controlled environments, there was a good chance they’d see something that shouldn’t be seen, from watching someone else’s spellwork (which, in itself wasn’t usually dangerous, just rude), to unbound magic. The less said about seeing a ley-line unprotected, the better.
Turning her gaze to Alice, she blinked several times.
“My Gods...” She whispered, stunned.
Where Alice was sitting was a swirling, bright figure. Alice’s entire body was so suffused with mana Sophie had to shield her eyes. Looking over the champion, she finally found a spot brighter than others, in the middle of Alice’s stomach, slowly bubbling like a flame in a closed room.
“This... Almost looks like a Mana Reactor. How...” She scowled slightly, unbelieving what she was looking at, a headache slowly making its way to the surface. This, is the kind of shit they warned us about not looking at in the Academy.
Soon as that thought crossed her mind she felt another fluctuation, then another. Before she looked away a sound almost like glass breaking reverberated in her skull.
At the same moment, Alice slumped over, her the already significant glow of her mana blowing up like a sun, her core turning from a small flame into an unbound inferno.
Blinded, she turned her [mana sight] off and tried looking at Alice. The woman was unconscious, her eyes open but rolled up into her skull. Everything was covered in a slightly reddish haze. She tried standing up but between her spinning head and pain behind the eyes, she fell back to her knees. Gritting her teeth, she tried again, unsuccessful.
“Get up. I’ve got to get help.” She panted, starting to feel mana in the area thicken - Alice, likely kept burning up her entire supply. “I have to get Thorne before she...”
“Mrowr.” She heard from right next to her head. Looking from the floor, she saw Cheshire, the black kitten looking straight in her eyes. It nodded, slowly and deliberately, once, then ran out towards the door.
—
She was sleeping while her Momma was learning. She liked sleeping. Mommas memories would sometimes make their way into them, and while she didn’t understand a lot of the things she saw, she still learned a lot from Momma. Like names for things. Or the meaning of words and how to use them. Or the importance of her own name and how it was connected to Momma’s. She loved her name.
She also learned of the importance of love, and helping and sacrifice. Some things were too difficult, or made no sense at all, but she didn’t mind. Momma gave her a name and hugs and mana. Momma saved her from the bad thing and took her to safety. Where there was milky, and other people who would give her pets, and warm soft beds.
She sometimes thought of her old momma, but she didn’t know words. She didn’t know soft pillows, and while Chess was sure she loved her, it was all hazy and far away. Like a dream, but unlike Momma’s dreams, this one was already fading.
Her eyes snapped open as she felt her connection to Momma vanish. No, not vanish, but it was so far away now. She felt Momma’s mana thicken, filling the space around her as her head slumped and she fell sideways on the couch.
She looked around, frantic, when she heard the other person in the room speak. Looking at Sophie, she saw her on all fours, red streaks running from her eyes.
“I have to get Thorne before she...”
Cheshire didn’t wait for the older human to finish, jumping down and getting her attention with a noise.
I’ll go.
She hoped Sophie understood, and when she looked at Cheshire she moved her head up and down, like the humans did, then turned and run.
Sparkling with magic, thanks to Momma’s mana now filling the room, she jumped at the door handle and opening them run out of the building. She took a deep breath of the air and finding Thorne’s scent she ran as fast as her legs would allow.
She had to make sure Momma was safe.
She arrived at the big building where they ate, but without Momma’s magic surrounding her she couldn’t open the doors. She just hang off the handle for a moment before dropping back.
She thought about shouting, but as she couldn’t tell where inside Thorne was she decided on a more direct approach. She tracked back several metres, aimed for the biggest window, and gathering up all her energy, she ran, then jumped straight at it.
—
Thorne was enjoying a pint with the Drogan and Finn. The tavern was empty except for the three of them. Finn was talking about his experience with Alice during the day, from her strength and interest in learning to her humour.
Drogan’s ears were beet red when Finn finished telling the joke Alice shared with the lumberers, his eyes firmly on his pint. Thorne laughed – outwardly at the joke, which really was rather dirty, and inwardly at Drogan. It was moment’s like this that Thorne couldn’t quite get himself to calling him a man. He might be grown, but inside he still was the pure, innocent boy Thorne helped raise.
Their merriment was cut short with the sound of glass breaking. They all looked towards the window. One of the panels was shattered, and looking down they saw Alice’s cub shaking bits of glass off herself. She looked up at them, and locked eyes with Thorne.
He didn’t get a chance to speak as as the little kitten ran to him, and biting on the edge of his trousers – pulled. He looked at it confused for a second, the slight haze of the ale lifting from him as he realised something must have happened. He looked at the cub, he knew she was clever, but now he was about to find out how clever.
“You need help?” He asked, looking down.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Nod.
“Is it Alice?”
Nod.
“Boarding house?”
One final Nod, then she tugged on her leg again and, letting go, ran to the door. He didn’t wait for his equally shocked companions to get up. He stood up and rushed at the door, only leaving a shout behind as he rushed out, quickly overtaken by the little panther.
“Follow!” They did.
Running into the boarding house, the first thing he noticed was that the room was brimming with mana. The second was his wife, sitting on the floor, bloody tears running down her cheeks. Alice was lying on the couch next to her, clearly unconscious,her eyes rolled up. He ran up to them, dropping to his knees next to Sophie, grabbing her face in his hands turning it to him.
“What happened love? Are you alright?” His voice was shaking and he wasn’t sure if it was the overwhelming mana in the room, or the sight of his wife hurt. She shook of his hands, and turned back to Alice.
“I’m fine, it’s my own damn fault.” She said angrily, her hand on Alice’s belly. “Now, help. I need you to use your [domain authority] to contain her mana before she burns herself out. Or worse yet, it saturated the village cornerstone!”
At the last, nearly shouted words, Thorne blanched. If that happened, their Lord would get a notification. Best case scenario – he’d assume an attack, worst case – rebellion. Either way they’d get a detachment of soldiers or mercenaries sent to the village. Dealing with the tax collector once a year was more than enough contact with their landlord for them.
Closing his eyes, he focused all his mana in his hand. It took him longer than expected, Alice’s leaking mana trying to overwhelm his own, even internally. Finally he opened his eyes and looked at his wife.
“Stomach. That’s her core.” She said simply.
He nodded, and placed his hand on top of hers, then pushing the mana down he took a deep breath and spoke in a clear, authoritative voice.
“As the local Domain Authority, I hereby revoke Alice’s mana access until further notice. So say I, Thorne Nightshade, Moderator of this village.”
To his shock, nothing happened. His mana was simply brushed aside from Alice’s core, and a message he’s seen only once before, appeared in his mind.
[Insufficient Access Level: GM or higher required.]
“Well. Fuck.” He looked at his wife. She was muttering frantically under her breath and he realised was channelling as much of Alice’s power as she could. She was sending it everywhere she could think of - into the building around them, enchantments all over the village, her own workshop, even the sky. “I can’t stop her. She’s high nobility.”
Sophie simply nodded, still focused on her work.
Thorne looked around the room, trying to figure out a way to stop this from turning into a full blown crisis. He saw Chess next to Alice’s face, licking it. A flame of shadow coiling around the the kitten, all of her fur standing up, it seemed she was really clever indeed, helping his wife as much as she could. Finn and Drogan were at the door, both looked worried, though Drogan was ghostly pale.
He raised his eyes into the sky, praying for a miracle, terrified of what might happen next.
—
“OLIVIA! WAKE UP!”
Olivia jumped upright in her bed, looking around. She didn’t see anyone in her room. Something felt off, though, but before she could figure it out herself the voice that woke her up spoke again.
“Oh thank heavens.” The oddly toned, feminine voice seemed to come from all around her. “Olivia, it’s Whimsy, I need you to go down to help Sophie and Thorne. Right now! It’s an emergency!”
She quickly put on her slippers and opened the door. Still half asleep, but aware enough of the panic in Whimsy’s voice, she spoke out loud heading for the door.
“How...”
“Alice’s mana is out of control. I was learning about magic with her when she broke something and we need to stop her before she hurts someone.”
Reaching the stairs, she realised the odd feeling she had must have been Alice’s mana. Even with how little ability she actually had in spellwork, it was hard not to feel the almost oppressive pressure.
As she walked down, she saw the fear in Thorne’s eyes, Sophie’s focus, Cheshire looking like a black flame and Drogan and Finn standing at the door, scared stiff. Alice was on the couch.
“How do I...” She started, Whimsy cutting her off mid question. As she spoke, everyone in the room looked at her. Then, as the goddess’s voice rang out again, they all started looking around. She then realised they all could hear her Lady, especially since her first words weren’t aimed at Olivia.
“Thorne, prepare the Authority Override again. Olivia, put your hand on Thorne’s.”
Olivia, sitting at Alice’s legs, looked at the village chief. Thorne seemed like he wanted to argue, but Olivia gave him a stern look and raised her eyebrows in a clear ‘what are you waiting for?’. The man bit his lip, nodded to himself and closing his eyes gathered his own power and began preparing for the spell once again.
“Olive, I’m sorry. This will hurt. A lot.” Olivia barely heard the whisper, clearly meant only for her. At the same time Thorne began chanting his spell, Whimsy’s voice rang out, loud, clear and powerful, ringing inside the walls of the ironwood building.
“As the authority of the Worldwide Health Initiative for Mental Health in Youth, Priestess Olivia is hereby granted right of consent for patient, Alice. Thorne Nightshade is given medical clearance to help the current patient, Alice by performing this procedure [Domain Authority].”
Olivia barely heard the words as more power than she ever handled before coursed through her body, into Thorne’s palm and then Alice. It felt like her entire body was trying to rip itself apart, the entire arm touching Alice burning.
Thankfully, the pain only lasted a moment. As soon as Thorne’s spell finished and he raised his hand from Alice’s body, the power subsided.
Sophie was the first to react, giving Alice a quick once-over and sliding down to the floor completely, drained.
“It’s done. Oh thank the gods, I thought we were done for. How did you do it?” She asked the last question while slightly raising her head off the floor to look at Olivia. Instead of her, Whimsy responded, the relief palpable in her voice.
“Divine intervention.”
Whimsy’s voice took on a slightly crazed tone then, laughter bubbling in it. Most of them knew it well – the voice of someone who just survived something they probably shouldn’t.
“Whoa, that was wild. Four days and I’ve experienced more than in the last five centuries. Haha, that girl is twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag!” Calming down, she spoke one last time, her voice fading away as Alice’s mana dispersed into the world. “Sophie, you’re a great teacher, this incident is totally on us. Please don’t abandon her though, we have to make sure nothing like this happens again. Thank you.”
Sophie, utterly confused looked at Olivia questioningly. The priestess shrugged, massaging the arm she used to channel the power, a slight smirk on her face as all that happened since she woke up not even minutes before, finally sunk in.
“You heard my Lady. Good job, both of you.” An annoyed meow came from near Alice’s head and Olivia laughed a little. “All three of you, I’m sorry Cheshire.” Standing up with a groan, she headed back to her room, casting a look at men at the door.
“Finn, Drogan be good boys and carry Alice to her bed, please?” The two men nodded numbly and started towards the couch.
Thorne was already helping his wife up, despite being in stupor himself, and leading her back to their own house. He spoke as he passed the two men.
“Yes, please help her. And keep your gobs shut about what happened here. We don’t need a panic in the village now that the situation is resolved.” He stopped then and looked up. “Olivia, is the situation resolved?”
She turned back towards him from the top of the stairs and once again shrugged.
“How should I know? Sophie there is the magic specialist, and was here for all of it.”
“Yeah, OK, but you—”
“Just did what I was told. Now, I’m old and this kind of excitement in the evening really isn’t my good for me.” With that, she walked deeper into the corridor leading to the rooms and disappeared from sight. Thorne sighed, then headed out of the building, his wife firmly in his arms.
Drogan and Finn went up to Alice’s unconscious form. Finn tried lifting her in a princess carry, but he barely managed to lift her off the couch. Remembering what she said about her weight, during the day, he took a step back, then beckoned to Drogan.
“Grab her under the arms lad, I’ll grab her legs. It won’t look pretty but it’s better than breaking my back, or leaving her here.” Drogan nodded and followed Fin’s instructions.
Two minutes later they were up the stairs with a tired looking Olivia standing by a door in the far end. She showed them into Alice’s room where they put her on the bed, Cheshire promptly jumping next to her mother, and curling up.
Olivia thanked them, put a cover on Alice and Cheshire and left, closing the doors behind them.
They walked down and back to the male boarding house in silence. Each man mulling over what happened this evening.
Finn promised himself to never mention the awkward, if adorable, glances Drogan kept giving Alice’s chest as they carried her.