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Leo
In a single day, Leo went from feeling vulnerable because he was sexually assaulted at the market, to gaining a power that could destroy the world, and the two extremes had left him a little exhausted mentally. So yeah, he was pretty much done with today, and wanted nothing more than to have a meal at the inn and pass out in their room, maybe have a bit of stress relief in-between.
Elaria finally spoke up after he calmed down. “What do you mean you're the most powerful thing on the planet? No offence, but flight magic hardly makes you capable of killing a dragon.” She challenged critically.
It was difficult to hold down a scoff, since what he could do was way more than just kill a dragon. ‘Yeah, a few hundred G's would beg to differ.’
He finally put some strength back into his legs to walk on them properly, but still felt like a massive weight was placed on his shoulders. “It's not the spell itself, but how I went about casting it. Do you understand the concept of gravity, or even what that word is?”
She shook her head in response.
A sigh escaped his lips, knowing that this was going to be quite the explanation. “That figures. Remember when I said that my world has no magic, because of that we had to study the world around us and use physical solutions to solve our problems. We thought up what principles governed reality itself, creating structured definitions and names for the things that make up, well, existence. One of the things that we named and defined is gravity. To better help you understand, it's essentially what keeps you on the ground, or the thing that makes objects fall in general. My flight spell basically controls it to make it work, and now that I know that I can control it, I should be capable of doing some pretty amazing and outright terrifying things with it.” He explained to the blank faced selarin, whose expression warped into confusion as the information visibly sunk in.
“By making something float?” She asked a bit befuddled, much to his dismay, because he would have to explain in even more detail.
He tried to find the words to properly explain what gravity is, but found that it would devolve into so many other concepts. What is a force? What is mass? Why do large objects have more gravity? What do you mean weight is only defined by it? What is space? How can something affect time? So instead of going down that rabbit hole, he took out his little booklet on magic and told her to hold out her hand, opting for a display.
Placing the booklet on her open palm, he cast a spell to alter the gravity. “This is what happens when I decrease the gravity.” He told her while making the booklet feel like it weighed less than a feather.
“This is suppose to harm a dragon?” She asked incredulously with a raised eyebrow, which contrasted to her head tilting in slight fascination.
The human smirked at his clueless companion. “And this is what happens when I increase the gravity.” He told her while slowly increasing its gravity until she had to support it with both hands.
The selarin's eyes went wide as she tried to comprehend what was happening, all the while the booklet was being crushed and formed completely to her hand. “Exactly how heavy can you make something?”
“I'm technically not making it heavier, since I'm not affecting what it's made out of. But this literally costs me nothing in terms of mana, so I can probably flatten anything into paste.” He answered while releasing the spell on the booklet.
“Even a dragon?” Elaria gulped as she handed him back the booklet, now coming to understand only a fraction of the power he held.
He grimaced as he put the, now useless, magical guide away. “If that scares you, then I'm afraid you're thinking too small...”
Elaria went utterly quiet for a few long moments, forcing him to shake the shocked woman out of her daze. “Wait so, can't other arch mages do what you can then? I mean since they can cast flight magic.” She immediately questioned.
Leo shook his head, his loosely fit scarf shifting as he did so. “I don't think so, since the principles I work with are probably ages ahead of anything taught on this world. I believe their level of knowledge and understanding is similar to what we call a philosopher on my world, a profession that all but died off in terms of actual physical discovery. They'll be able to understand that something is forcing them to the ground and will even put a name to it, but visualizing an approximate image to what it looks like much less how it actually functions would be beyond them.”
Her eyes became distant again, but he gave his cool scaled beauty a shake before she got too lost in thought. “Oh… Well with that kind of power, there shouldn't be anything to fear from the dragons then.” She said while perking up a bit.
“Ehh, wouldn't say that. For all my knowledge of the physical world, I know fuck all about magic. The concept of a soul isn't even a proven thing on my world, so they could just rip it out of me on sight for all I know. And don't even get me started on the bullshit that is mana, being able to conjure things out of thin air based solely on how much you know.” He finished with a mild irritation while continuing in his mind.
‘Because fuck thermodynamics, right?’
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Elaria
For the first time Elaria understood why the knowledge of a summon could start a new era, If Leo's exploits into magic are anything to go by. The man just explained that he had gained the power to crush a dragon with little effort, figuring out how to do it from just combining his non-magical understanding of the world with magic. She would have been terrified of him if he didn't blush like a tomato every time he was teased. It was also comforting that he pretty much went weak-kneed when he found out what he was capable of, almost seeming a bit terrified.
Most people would probably be thinking of taking control of a kingdom or even the world with that kind of power, she certainly knew a few relatives who would love to, but he seemed to be afraid of it. She recalled that every time he learned how the selarin rulers used their power, he reacted in anger and disgust. And she didn't know if it was because he was so compassionate or if it was a human thing, but he definitely viewed how to use power differently.
‘Maybe his world has more ‘just’ kingdoms, or was he actually royalty? It would explain how he's so educated, and why he got angry with how other rulers treat subjects. Wait, he said his job was to play god, maybe he just has more compassion for things in general. That still doesn't mean he's not royal though… I'll have to ask him when we get to the inn, I don't think I could take that kind of information standing if he is, because that would mean I just fucked a prince.’ She thought while a little transfixed by the idea.
The thought of her bonding with royalty from another world was definitely a mesmerizing one, it was something straight out of a story book, and she blushed at the idea.
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Leo
As Leo and Elaria entered the inn, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up for the first time in his life. He had read and heard of the reaction happening to people right before they found themselves in deep shit, but this was a first for him, as staring at a computer screen for a living doesn't scream hazardous job.
His gut sank, and his head fixated itself on the bar Kesl manned while his eyes darted around the dining area. There were the usual lustful gazes, but he knew someone here was looking at him differently, someone who felt like they were gazing through him rather than at him.
Elaria seemed to notice as they walked toward Kesl. “Leo, is something wrong?”
He was about to respond when a voice spoke up from behind. “Yes Leo, Is something bothering you?” A slightly familiar voice interrupted, the tone saturated in mockery.
They both turned to regard the unknown person and froze at who they saw. It was the healer, Allis.
He originally didn't pay much attention to her looks when they first met, as he was livid by how healers priced gouged for essentially an effortless service. But now that he was up close, and fairly terrified, he had the time to properly give her a once over.
The serpentine reminded him of the viper's from xcom2, with a few major differences. She had sandy colored scales that capped over the top of her head, and stretched down the entire back half of her body. Her light brown eyes were a lot wider, mouth didn't look like it could unhinge, facial structure was way more smooth, and had a hood that was a bit higher up than that of a cobra.
The diameter of her tail past the hips was about more or less a foot which made it look like her upper half would tip over at any moment, but when you consider that it's almost pure muscle then any thicker would probably be excessive.
The connection between her lower and upper half accentuated her hips, which were very slender. Her tail was also very long, around fifteen feet and tapering off at about ten. He would say that she was a foot taller than himself, but her tail seemed to push her up a fair bit, so from hip to head she would be more or less the same height as himself.
She wore a jacket and one piece dress uniform that made her vaguely look like they were attending a high-class private school. It was a wide sleeved gray cut dress that clung loosely to her body, and stopped where one would assume the knees to be. It was slightly ornate, and had a few patches on the shoulders that either denoted her status or academy association.
He felt Elaria tighten around his arm, and after giving her a quick glance, he saw that she looked like she wanted to run straight to their room, but they both knew that it would be pointless because she would just wait them out. His thoughts raced, trying to piece together a backstory to cover his ass, since he was completely unprepared to deal with the snake woman.
“Oh, hello Allis. I'm fine, what brings you here?” He asked with a forced smile and a bit of strain to his voice.
Allis furrowed her brow and narrowed her eyes, making her stare slightly more predatory than he was currently comfortable with. “Well after you both ran out of my clinic, rudely ignoring my pleas while I gave chase, I went around town trying to find you.” She answered with a mild irritation.
Keeping a welcoming tone, he went on to ask. “And why is that, I mean I'm just a mage. We're a diamond dozen, right.”
Allis's eyes narrowed to slits. “A what? …”
‘Fuck, might not have translated well…’ He thought before responding. “Um it's just a saying where I'm from, more or less means I'm no more unique than the next one, but still quite valuable.”
Allis formed a devilish smile at his explanation. “I wouldn't say that, you appeared to learn healing magic almost instantly.”
‘Fuck.’ - “My father was a medic, I know a lot about.. Stuff...” He trailed off as his mind blanked on how to finish the sentence.
Leaning closer to them both she continued. “And you can cast without words to initiate.” She stated knowingly, while her light brown eyes seemed to pierce further into him.
‘Fuck.’ - “Oh? You probably just didn't hear me...” He disputed.
She leaned in even closer. “As well as having the stamina of a dragon.”
‘Fuck.’ - “Pff, rumors…” He deflected.
Allis leaned in so close that only Leo and Elaria could hear her next words. “And you're a summon at that.”
‘Fuck!’ He relented.
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