Chapter 40

Awkward Tensions and New Nick Names

  You know when people say they want to give you a nick name, why can’t it ever be Nick? It always must be something stupid like Powder or Heal Boy. Even the nearly trademarked Professor ‘-X’ would be preferable to my new nick name. No, I am not going to tell you what it is, I will just go by hey you. Weirdo. Or any other less mildly offensive term than what I’ve been given.

  “Grippy.” Wizard me asks; his voice full of hidden mirth as he comes closer to me. I am about to avoid him entirely, but then he hits me with his request, “I have a translation question for you.”

  Sighing, I turn to him and wait for his question. This is my official role now that the incursion is over. Or at least the Dwenvarian home planet is nothing but scorched glass on the surface. Military Satellites have been placed around the planet, set to destroy any sign of movement on the surface of the planet. The sensors are fairly loose too as a gust of wind was enough to set off a whole orbital bombardment.

  “How do you say, ‘Destroyer of the great world ending bug with your mind’?”

  I scowl at him but do as he asks none-the-less.

  “Grippy-ionya denvar urdunsta.” I state. In a way the translation is much easier, as one word can mean so many different things. In this case the first word Grippy, and what everyone has been referring to me as means great world. Not the worst that I could be called, but it does have a bad connotation when left by itself in English.

  For his part he tried to sound it all out, and then nodded to himself when it was beyond him. After a try, he nods then grins to himself as he goes away. “Thanks, Grippy.” He says with a sly smirk on his face.

  For my part this is simply par for the course of how my last few days have been. I get rewarded and officially recognized by both the Endarians and Humans. The humans for being the savior of the entire battle. For the Endarians I get rewarded for my noted contributions for being the destroyer of the scourge’s grand general, but then got noted for how I had to do something. Especially since Rayquel did all the work in the operation. At least as far as the Endarians were concerned. To their defense, most didn’t know that Rayquel did next to nothing in that whole operation. Well, she did sort of rescue me after the battle. She grabbed me and managed to fly us well outside of the combat zone. Something I had not been aware of at the time. Apparently, our location and relative safety meant we were a last priority, something that I didn’t even realize had happened. Then again, I guess I should have noted something was amiss when the only mind I could feel around me was Rayquel’s.

  I give a glance over to the side of the room to see my shadow. Well technically my leader. Upon seeing me glance her way she smiles slightly and waves. I can tell from our bond that she is still nervous about what happened. Truthfully, I don’t know what to think. No, this isn’t about the rescue, or how close we were during the entire twenty plus hour rescue operation.

  No, our tension comes from what happened after we got on the rescue ship, and I passed out. Only to wake up to find her in my hospital bed. I was little spoon in case you were wondering. Also, before you get on me about my complex of being big-spoon dominant, I want to note that this had nothing to do with that. Rather I felt violated at the time.

  Also looking back on the moment, I might have reacted poorly. There I said it, maybe only to myself, but I said it none-the-less. See second time using none-the-less, well technically third time now. GRR.

  You know what, I don’t know how I feel about anything anymore.

  Badump.

  I really liked Rayquel around me. I mean really liked it, then I felt so guilty for liking it. I know at some point I am going to have to go back to my universe. I can almost feel the time when such an act will be forced upon me. I can’t help but feel a want to remain close to Rayquel as well. We are pair bonded, and have survived our first battle together, such a feat should be commended.

  Also, I found out later that Rayquel had big-spooned me in order to keep me from destroying the whole rescue ship. Apparently, I was having bad dreams.

  Thinking back my dreams were a bit hazy. I do remember a few things though. I remember Mel, and the scourge invading. I remember seeing Mel getting overwhelmed by the monsters. Then I remember the deep sense of panic at hearing her scream. Looking back on the dream I know it now to be a form of lucid dreaming, a way Precognitives can glimpse the future. Part of me also realizes that I must have been self-aware of that, to at least some extent, which was why the deep sense of panic.

  I also might have been trying to rip a hole in space and time with my Telekinesis, as apparently, I had trashed the hospital room. At least until Rayquel got there.

  I had apologized to her, almost immediately after the blow up. But the damage had been done, literally to the room, but figuratively to our bond.

  Even now I could feel the tension we had on the bond causing a bit of fraying.

  Looking back, she was right about taking this slowly. With just the frayed edges of our bond, I feel irrationally angry. As if somehow mentally poking the frayed edges causes intense pain that forces the primal parts of my mind to fight back.

  I wave at her too.

  Unfortunately, I must teach a class. A class to ungrateful humans who think that calling me Grippy for my recent exploits is hilarious. Again, mistranslations are the number one reason why most interplanetary species will have issues. We have known about this for years, but you add in the fact that humans are mostly childish, and you are asking for trouble.

Stolen novel; please report.

  “Professor Grippy, can you stop ogling the Endarian Princess there, and actually teach us?” Wizard me says from his position in my class.

  Hearing him I turn, sigh, and realize I still need to teach this moron something. Worse, I know how deep of a moron he is, because I was once him. Well not just like him. He has this whole universe handed to him on a silver platter. Me on the other hand I am a visitor on a quickly expiring visa. I don’t quite know how much longer I have here, but I both need and want to get back to my universe.

  I can feel part of me, pulling towards that direction. It is almost as if some major force is compelling me to go home. Worse, the more it pulls, the more I feel a pang of loneliness. Even with Rayquel’s bond, frayed as it is, that only serves to cover half of this growing pit. Worse, ever since the fraying starts, I have felt the call and inevitable pull towards my home.

  Still, looking at me. Knowing that Wizard me was now up by two jabs, I knew I had to do something to set the scales of my own mental justice at rest. Thus, he wanted me to teach, I would teach.

  “Look shit bag. If I wanted your lip, I would have peeled them off Cadet Childer’s ass by now.” I say. That comment got both a nervous blush out of both Wizard me, and Jess. I wasn’t quite certain where they would be in this stage of their relationship. It was still early, so maybe just second base for Wizard me. But still farther than I got in this lifetime. Or does being little spoon count, even if you are passed out? No that likely didn’t count for much.

  Shaking my head, I begin my lesson now that I have everyone’s attention.

  “Good now that I have your attention. Can any of you shit for brains tell me what the seven core components of a spell are?”

  My sudden change from being regular me, to being a Drill Instructor causes them all to flinch. They are instantly nervous, especially as I let a bit of my Psionic resonance bleed out among the room. Not much, I don’t use my power, instead I let the energy of my reserves bleed out. This can cause anger and unnatural aggression in larger doses, but in smaller doses like this, it can cause nervous tension. Tension is good, if a cadet can learn while they are nervous then they should be able to recall this information while on the battlefield. At least that is the intent.

  Everyone looks shocked or cowed, except for Cadet Childers. Looking at her I almost wonder why, then I remember she is Psychic, like Rayquel and thus immune to my psychic resonance. Or not immune, she could still feel that I was releasing it. But the tingling sensation of dread would be removed from what she felt.

  “Composition, Targeting, Direction, and Amplitude?” A cadet called out.

  I turn my eyes to that person and shake my head. “That is what the humans have taught you about spell craft. There are seven components, because in each spell there are seven parts that are manipulated to cast a spell. One can link the two parts of targeting, and the three parts of composition into generic categories, but that diminishes the spell. Worse it makes it so you all don’t realize the basics.”

  I pause as I look about the classroom and see a bunch of vacant gazes staring up at me. Eyes lost in confusion. It doesn’t take a mind reading expert to realize they are not understanding this lecture at all. Shaking my head, I decide to change tactic.

  “You, cone head.” I say pointing to wizard me.

  “Cone head?” He asks.

  “Yeah, you are the wizard right, the class with the pointy hats…” I state, then continue before he can say anything else. Mentally I make a note that we are now even at two quips a piece. “Anyways, create a spell for me.”

  “What type?”

  “Any type, an attack spell. Go on, aim it right at me.” I mock, as I gesture for him to send his spell right at my face.

  He pauses, his body hesitant for a second. So, I give him a verbal push, again.

  “Oh, come on. You are still scared? Or are you still incapable of getting it up when it counts?” I ask, and yes, I make another note that I am now up, three to two.

  “Why you!” He shouts as he makes a wild gesture with his hands. Then I see the moment a flame spell manifests, and I grab hold of it almost immediately.

  “Dancing for me too pretty boy? You going to do a little pixie swoosh, while you are at it?” I say.

  Wizard me just shakes in anger, but this is an important lesson for all the cadets to learn. “Seriously, these hand gestures, this moving with your mana bullshit needs to stop. It’s a dead giveaway. Better to learn to do your casting without any impediments now, than when it counts. Also, what happens if your hands are bound, or worse you just lost a limb. Does that mean you won’t be able to cast the potentially lifesaving spell because you can’t move? See it’s stupid. Learn to do spell casting correctly and do it the right way.”

  I speak mostly to Wizard me, but I also talk to the entire classroom. I note that a few of the Endarians who are standing on the walls are taking notes, though I wonder how many can speak English.

  Then once my moment of chastisement is over, I go through the spell formation. I show how there are seven unique runes on the spell. Since the spell is paused and made visible thanks to my Spell Breaking, going through each component is rather easy. Within seconds I show how the three runes that make up the composition portion of the spell are different. I have another student cast a second spell, a water spell. Once the two are frozen in time, I put them next to each other so we can do a side-by-side comparison.

  It is at this point that the Endarians who had been trying to hide their fascination with my lesson all came forward to openly gape and stare. I don’t care, with my citizenship still pending, I realize I will likely be breaking this down and being used to help expand universal spell theory for the Endarians as well.

  “Now as a Spell breaker, I cannot alter the runes that are being used. I can force you to put more energy into the spell. This is caused by widening the Amplitude of the spell.” I say as I increase the mana being poured into Wizard me’s fire lance spell.

  “I can also change the direction of the spell, making it fire in a harmless direction. Or back at the enemy that cast the spell.” I say, as I slowly spin the targeting rune around its axis.

  “Mage Breakers have the easiest and simultaneously the hardest set of skills. Ours is the easiest as we don’t really create the spell, we just take ownership of the spell. The hard part comes in the fact that we need to be faster than anyone else. With practice you can start to feel the drawing in of mana, the moment spells are being called into life. Then you must snatch it out of the air. I attribute this to the act of catching flies. You need to be quick and decisive while striking. You must also anticipate where the fly will go, and what it will do once it is loose. Spell Breaking is no different. You need to see the spell when it is at rest. Then before it becomes fully formed, you must strike.”

  I pause, then a smile fills my face as I look directly at Wizard me.

  “Your homework for this class is to have your friends cast minor spells at you. These can be anything from healing spells to minor level fire spells. Your job as a Mage Breaker is to see the spell and try to grab it before the spell can be cast. Once you have done this ten times, write down what you noticed with each successful grab. Then repeat once more. Now I shouldn’t have to say this, but this is something that can’t be done all at one time. But it can be done in one night if you are particularly motivated.”

  With that the class was dismissed. The humans all left the class, a few saying thanks. I could see the moment Wizard me opened his mouth to say something. I in turn smiled widely, knowing that I was up two to one in our contest for today. I fully admit that being in a position of authority makes these types of interactions particularly easy, but still, he keeps asking for it.

  Then before he can say anything, Jess, or rather Cadet Childers looks at him then to me. Then quickly grabs his arm and pulls him away before he can do anything.

  Seeing them walk away, brings a slight pang to my heart, while at the same time I can’t help but wish them luck.

  “You did well.” Rayquel said, from beside me.

  I felt her approach but didn’t say anything. At this moment I thought her to be more like her moniker than was probably good for me. I imagined her to be a butterfly, one that would fly away at the slightest hint of provocation.

  “Look, I need to apologize.” I say, turning to her.

  At my turn our eyes locked, and I could feel the nervousness in her. There was an awkward pause, before she cut in. “No, I should be the one to apologize. The doctors drugged you at first, but that only made the visions get worse. Then when you started sending out Telekinetic lances, you tore up the room and frightened the doctors and staff. I didn’t know what else to do, so I…” She trailed off as she tried to think of how to say what she did. Finally shrugging as her mind came to an answer, she continued.

  “I used our bond to help soothe you. Only when I lay down next to you, did you begin to calm down and stop sending out psychic discharges.”

  “I thought you said I was sending out Telekinetic lances?”

  “That too. You were clearly using a lot of your power and it was having an immediate effect on the mage staff.”

  Hearing that I nodded, then asked a question I knew we both needed to know the answer to.

  “So, what should we do now?”