Novels2Search

Chapter 4

He trudged through the shitty, dense undergrowth with a great frown and a series of annoyed thoughts.

He had nothing against these two girls, but they were a bit excitable for his liking. And immature! This was life or death for him, damnit! Suddenly thrown into this fucked up place mid-run and nearly killed, he deserved some more direction than simply ‘this way’.

And being claimed?! No way. Not him. Sure, if he wanted to be so, but forced into it? The fox girl apparently had no issue, but she was native here, right? They both spoke English, though...

He pinched himself for the hundredth time.

Nope. Still not a dream.

Pity.

He couldn’t fathom anything out. Could barely think. Too many frenzied ideas, worries, concerns.

And his company didn’t help in the slightest! They kept nattering away like old women about this, that, and the other, with no sign of halting. They were so self-absorbed they hadn’t even noticed his bleeding or questioned his appearance at all. What in the hell was ‘mana’ anyway?!

No concern for him! What if he died, what use would he be as a claimant then?

Not that he cared about that. It was weird enough to have a foot sized fairy declare it to his face, but being part of a weird harem was not his calling.

Ugh – weird thoughts. Unusual thoughts for him. And so annoyed, too. Not like it was his fault – what the fuck was this situation anyway? Personally, he blamed that damn Voice. It was totally right.

He was broken out of his funky thoughts by stumbling across a huge root, causing the wound on his inner thigh to flare in pain once more.

He made a short cry of pain and limped a step, finally getting the two scatterbrains to notice.

“Oh!” the fairy exclaimed as she fluttered over, “This is... A scratch? Claw? Something you were running from earlier?” she asked, inspecting closer.

He just grunted in affirmation.

“Well, okay,” she shrugged, “I’ll just patch it up for you!”

What? How? This thing could do first aid? With what? Her hair? She was naked!

The Fox looked on, quite interested, as the fairy told her something about magic-

Magic?

Was what flowed through his leg, as unknown words came from the fairy’s mouth, and a warm sensation spread across his wound, instantly sealing it shut and removing all the pain.

What the fuck?

He stood there, stunned as he looked at where the wound had been. It was still bloody, but there was nothing else! Nothing to see, nothing to feel, what the hell?!

The other two just continued on, the Fox looking thoughtful, the fairy unreadable, and so he struggled to wordlessly catch up, unable to comprehend what just happened.

He pinched himself for the hundredth and oneth time.

Nope. Not a dream.

************************************

Pride was a funny thing. Though it was often discouraged for being one of the deadly sins, Alyssa frequently thought it odd that it was deemed such. She thought that, at the very least, it wasn’t a deadly sin. It was only detrimental, dangerous and self-destructive when employed in abundance. (Which, admittedly, is probably what is actually prohibited. Not simply pride itself, but anyway).

The same could be said of most, if not all, things in existence; take one of the heavenly virtues, justice, for example.

As Angels apparently existed in this world, she thought a small brush up on her ideals would prove fortuitous.

Justice was generally held in high regard. For why would it not be? The act of being brought to justice was seeing an injustice righted. Sort of. It sort of was. And it was one of the few definitions. Upholding lawfulness, whatever it may be, another. What someone ‘deserved’, after they performed a perceived wrong or slight. To whom, or what? Well...

As an example, a murderer being locked away in prison would be considered a serving of justice.

Your primary school bully stepping on a lego. Justice.

A white-supremacist watching the lynching of a black person. Scum like that would think it justice... And therein lay the issue.

One should see it fairly quickly. By some standards, including hers, the first two were acceptable, the third not. By others, all three were ideal and should be extolled.

Even simply the act of being ‘just’ and ‘fair’, holding all in equality, is up for debate, depending on its bearer. It is entirely subjective.

The type of justice and the weight of its hand are determined solely by the arm it is attached to.

What is equal, what is fair, and what is just will differ from person to person, and this is not its only problem.

As with pride, it is possible to posses excess justice – either the pursuit of it, or treatment of others.

This was often compounded by its inherently subjective nature. If one strived to pursue it above all else, in a single-minded manner, it was likely that they would fixate upon it and impose their self-instilled sense of justice upon all others, disregarding peoples freedoms and wishes.

Of course, it was unfair to single out any one virtue. They were all supposed to be held, considered and followed as one. Temperance would prevent excessive justice, or any other virtue.

But couldn’t that be applied to all of the deadly sins, too?

In her opinion, it was important to have some pride, some self-importance. Like many of the seven sins, it could be quite a selfish trait.

But that was not inherently bad or undesirable. If you possessed not one bit of selfishness, you would quickly come to exhaust yourself, and then be unable to help others, or uphold your righteous intentions.

Moderation and balance was everything. As was the freedom to choose as you desired, but with the knowledge that consequences for your actions were to be expected.

So why were they, in particular, ‘deadly’ sins? Any trait could be deadly, after all.

Alyssa didn’t know. The only times her philosophical side came out were times like these, or when she had nothing to do while laying in bed at night.

In this specific situation, she had noted that this man – Aaron - was somewhat prideful. She had yet to determine to what extent, but she was not blind. And he was not subtle. His agitation towards his situation was quite clear. She simply just didn’t care.

When Selaria had come out and said it (the whole claiming thing), Alyssa had explained what it meant, and that she, too, was claimed.

He had objected, even after Selaria had healed a wound they had missed - though she privately thought he had concealed it on purpose. A gash along his leg; not life threatening, but still, Alyssa thought he should’ve been a bit more grateful.

Glancing at him, she saw that he was looking ahead of them, walking alongside as Selaria flew in between, with an unhappy look. Honestly, Alyssa thought he was just sulking.

It didn’t seem like he was a misogynist – though she would readily admit that the two of them did not inspire confidence in any sort of leadership abilities.

Simply put, he seemed slightly in shock and out of control, combined with a pride in his own abilities and senses to keep himself alive. Being ‘claimed’ also appeared to mean he was subservient in some manner. This wasn’t true, as far as Alyssa had seen so far, but it hadn’t been long – the sun was just setting, and the darkness slowly encroaching – so there was a possibility his upset was well founded.

But unless Selaria was putting on an act, Alyssa simply couldn’t believe it.

“So, let me get this straight. I have to follow along with you two, for however long, to where ever you want, because I’m a little bit weird?” he grumpily asked.

“Yup!” Selaria happily responded, “That’s just how it works. Don’t worry, I have a feeling the gathering will be soon. Its been a while and everyone will want to share their findings as soon as possible!”

“Right. Sure. Fine. Just stick me up on a pedestal and gawk at me like a statue, why don’t ya,” he irritably responded.

“Hmmm...” Selaria pondered, “That’s not the worst idea, I suppose, but I can’t petrify things, sorry!”

“Wait, what?” Alyssa broke in, “That can be done?”

Selaria turned to face her, angling her flight.

“Sure can! It’s pretty scary, though. Wouldn’t recommend,” Selaria scrunched up her nose.

“You’ve...had experience?” Alyssa asked.

“Yeah...it was weird. Grainy. Everything was just rock. Thought as fast as one, could see like one, so I couldn’t see at all, but I was still conscious. Sorta. It was blocky. You get the idea. Didn’t hurt, but was mentally traumatising,” Selaria explained. Alyssa didn’t get the idea at all.

“Sounds horrifying. Why did that happen anyway?” Alyssa asked, curious.

“For an experiment!” Selaria excitably recalled, “We already knew that Flesh to Stone spells didn’t immediately kill their target, so we wanted to see what it was like. We theorised it may have been possible to break out of it if one was conscious during the time if one failed to resist the initial effect. It wasn’t, at all!”

Alyssa raised an eyebrow. It sounded absolutely insane, but she couldn’t deny that she wouldn’t also be interested in researching that sort of weird thing.

“You had precautions and stuff though, right? In case it went bad,” she asked, slightly concerned.

“Of course! Multiple Stone to Flesh scrolls...most Azata can cast healing spells...hmmm, what else did we have? It was really long ago. We did lots of other investigations too, I think.”

Aaron took this opportunity to speak up.

“That’s insane,” he declared, “You’re insane. This conversation is insane! Is it just normal for this world?”

“It’s pretty tame by my standards,” Selaria shrugged, “What world are you from where this is weird to you, then?”

“Ugh. I can’t believe this is real...Earth.”

Selaria, recognising the name, glanced at Alyssa with a thoughtful expression.

Ahh, she’s gonna figure it out, isn’t she.

“Strange name for a planet,” Selaria said.

“I...guess it is? What’s this one called, then?” he asked, a bit put off.

“Craeger,” Selaria answered.

“Oh.”

“What, were you hoping it was called ‘dirt’ or something?” Selaria snickered.

Alyssa giggled softly.

“...” Aaron stayed silent, glaring ahead for a while before speaking to the two of them. “Why the hell you both speak English? Been bothering me.”

Alyssa sighed. She had been wondering when that would get asked.

“Why? I grew up learning it, of course,” she responded nonchalantly.

“...Alrighty, then, how bout you Miss Fairy?”

“Once more, not a fairy. Also, you haven’t figured it out either?” she asked, another snicker forming.

“Ugh. I hate it here. Place is weird, people are weirder.”

Alyssa shook her head. It seemed some would have a harder time adjusting to this new reality. Her time had been...surprisingly easy, so far? Adjusting, at least. A little too easy, perhaps. Because of her new nature?

Selaria floated over and once more landed atop Alyssa’s head. She seemed to debate for a few moments before sitting back down and leaning against her right ear.

“So...Alyssa... You were human, right?” she asked, sweetly.

Alyssa almost missed a step. Almost.

Well, that didn’t take long.

“...Yes,” she admitted, “It wasn’t too hard to figure out, then.”

Stolen story; please report.

“Nope! Not for smart ol’ me.”

Aaron actually turned to them this time.

“Is my hearing funny? Don’t answer. I heard right I’m sure. You were...human? like me? From Earth?”

“Yep.”

“And you...what, got made into this?” he asked, gazing at her tail and ears.

“No, I made them myself,” she responded.

“Alright, alright, I know, stupid question. So you remember that Voice?”

Alyssa raised an eyebrow.

That hadn’t been sarcasm...oh well.

“Voice?” Selaria asked.

“Yes,” Alyssa responded, ignoring Selaria. “In perfect clarity. I have my theories, but none really make sense. Like how nothing really makes sense right now.”

“Well, you got that right, at least. What was it saying? Requirements and whatever? Was fuckin weird, man... Didn’t sound human, either.”

“I agree. Which is why it makes so little sense. I am guessing it is what sent us here, though.”

“Wait!” the Lyrakien cried from atop her head, right into Alyssa’s ear – her tail twitched in a grimace. “What, what? What voice? It sent you here? You didn’t mention this!” Selaria poked Alyssa’s ear and head.

She poked her back, gently.

“Stop that! I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know some pieces of the puzzle. I still don’t.”

“Well, I. Can. Help! Recite what it said to me, what happened before, during and after.”

“Okay, okay. Aaron, let me know if I get anything wrong or if you want to add anything.”

He nodded, but stayed silent, shaking his head at something.

“I was asleep,” she began, “when it first spoke. Didn’t really think anything of it. I don’t think I really woke up, either. Just spoke to me in my dream, so I assumed it was a part of that, at the time, and only remembered it until after you arrived,” she recalled. Her dreams were weird anyway, so it wasn’t a particularly odd occurrence, and she couldn’t remember feeling any more lucid than normal.

“Was evening for me,” Aaron spoke up. “Everyone just sorta stopped. Not frozen in place, not really, but we all were still and silent. Right up until we were here, really.”

“That must’ve felt unsettling...except, the feeling the Voice gave off was just so...” Alyssa trailed off, trying to find the right word.

“Powerful? Certainly felt like a lot of something behind the Voice,” Aaron said, stepping over a spiny bush.

“Yeah...it had a lot of weight. It was like... This,” she spoke, experimentally infusing her voice with her strangely malleable magic once more in an attempt to imitate what she remembered hearing.

Both Aaron and Selaria paused for a moment with wide eyes before wordlessly continuing on.

Selaria nodded and gestured for Alyssa to continue.

So she recounted what it had said.

“It began with a sigh. A tired one, I think. A long exhale, like... ‘Haaah...’” she began, and a split second pause in the two of them occurred once again.

“From that moment, it was the only thing I could focus on. Sounds like everyone else, too. Then it said...” she too paused, the upcoming segment requiring a bit of thought as she calmly worked the strings of magic around her throat into a soft blanket.

“To think you would all meet the conditions so soon... And without even a hint of my intervention, no less. I do not know whether to call this a miracle, or a tragedy.”

Selaria bit her lip, unwilling to be stopped by the Voice. Aaron was less successful, almost tumbling over a large, gnarled root.

“As it continued on, it gained depth and gravity,” she recalled, and focused on emulating it. “In either case, your time here is up. Very, very soon, it will be time to leave. Change is upon you all and you cannot avoid it. Ignorance will serve you no longer.

“As I could only listen, that’s what I did. And I heard it become...sorrowful. Sad? Mournful, perhaps,” she reflected. “You may think me cruel and cold-hearted for what is about to come. You may be angry with me and you will have every right to be. Because even though I have no say in the events of the future, or any time, I will always think it the best course of action. Better this, than to see you unmade by your own doing.”

“Unmade by your own undoing?” Selaria interrupted with a breath.

“Yes,” Alyssa nodded. “There is a reason I am so critical of humans, besides their mundanity. We were killing environments, people, animals, the very air itself, and so few were lifting a finger to prevent it. The money was too important. Thankfully, it will serve them ill here.” She paused, then added, “Not that I personally did much to help, but what could I do? Change on such a scale wasn’t going to come from one middle class girl in her twenties.”

Aaron grimaced, but she was unsure whether he agreed or held similar views.

Selaria was frowning.

“Why – no, I know why, but why? The humans I met back there wouldn’t have done that, I felt it! Are they just anomalies, and most of you are bad?” she asked, worriedly fluttering about.

“Power back on Earth was based on influence, either politically or monetarily and the two were often linked,” Alyssa shook her head. “One didn’t achieve either by being an upstanding member of society.”

Selaria sighed, deflating, but returned to silence.

“I then remember feeling...things,” she continued. “Like a scene, or a picture, or perhaps something more esoteric. It was intense, enviable, and eye-opening. I remember it more clearly now, it was like-“

“Like the Earth itself,” Aaron butt in, unexpectedly reverential in his tone.

Alyssa could hardly blame him. Remembering what she felt, now, was not easy to describe.

“Yes,” she nodded in agreement, “It was. Full of pressure, too, but comforting. All encompassing,” she explained. Then the words to describe the indescribable flowed through her, unbidden.

“It felt like...the trees. All of the billion billions of them, with their trillions of leaves fluttering, bristling and fighting amidst a terrifying storm. It sounded like... Howling winds and pounding rain, with the very ground parting beneath its force. Its...depth was conveyed through explosive eruptions, yet accompanied by the seeds for new life to spring up from its chaotic, wanton destruction. It was that and so much more. As though it acted with meanings, intents, relations, and ideas; I am not certain it even spoke with words,” she finished, releasing a breath as she left her little trance. It didn’t even feel like she was talking with words, there. Scary stuff.

Immediately, the felt her ear being pulled up with the strength of an Azata.

“Stop that!” Selaria whined. “You’re doing something weird! It’s like I’m actually being charmed, and I’m being serious! You’re-I don’t even know-infusing wild magic-how?!-into your voice! In weird ways! Like the opposite of the debacle earlier!”

“Debacle?” Aaron asked dreamily, still held in suspense by Alyssa’s new party trick.

“Nevermind that,” she deflected, then reconsidered. “Well, no, you’ll find out soon, I suppose. Anyway, stop pulling my ear! I didn’t do it on purpose!”

“That’s even worse!” Selaria huffed, but relented and fluttered in front of her with an exasperated look. “You’ll have to get a control of yourself before you do something genuinely dangerous. You probably already did something, but still.”

Alyssa bit her lip. Selaria had a point, but it was so...fun. And new, and interesting! And so, so natural. Like it had always been part of her. It was getting slightly addicting.

Selaria narrowed her eyes at the silent response.

“Look, I know how you’re feeling. You’ve just gained some new and wonderful power, and you can’t help but think to use it. Not only that, it’s like you always had it. You won’t even be thinking. It’ll just happen. I know. It happened to me a long time ago too. So trust me when I tell you to get a grip on it early. Please,” she earnestly asked, her expression softening as she spoke.

Alyssa bit her lip even harder. She’d gone through something like this? She had to admit, it would get intoxicating to constantly indulge her newfound abilities...

“Okay. I’ll try. But no promises,” she said,

No promises. But she would try! It was just... you know, magic and stuff! All she’d ever dreamed of! Fantasised, daydreamt of! But yes, she’d...restrict...herself from it. Mostly.

“Fine,” Selaria sighed in response. “I suppose that’s as much as I’ll get.”

“But, why?” Aaron suddenly broke in, the disbelief in his response ridding the dream-like state he was in.

“Why? Why what?” Selaria asked.

“Why restrict her?”

“I already explained that,” Selaria huffed in annoyance. “It’s too dangerous.”

“But isn’t that...isn’t that a good thing?”

Selaria frowned.

“I mean...its scary, sure...but...” he turned to Alyssa, “You know what this means, right? All of...this? Magic and...you mentioned people? Humans – proper ones.”

Alyssa pursed her lips in response as she fell into thought.

Yes. She knew. Well, she didn’t know. But she knew. People were people. They will always be people, regardless of their race, and the peoples she knew...

She nodded.

“I get it. I used to think about stuff like this a lot. So, I get it. We aren’t heading for some magical utopia. Probably also not a dystopia, but...” she shook her head. “I get it. I also agree with Sel here.”

“Oh! Pet names already?!” the Lyrakien broke in, excited. “Can I call you... Al, then?”

“No,” she flatly denied, causing Selaria to giggle. “Anyway, I agree with her because I can feel myself just how volatile I am. That doesn’t mean I will completely abide... But I think she simply means to not do anything stupidly dangerous. Which I can get behind! Common sense is flipped on its head and twisted round four and a half times, so.”

Aaron looked away and carried on walking.

“That makes sense. Sorry, I was, eh... Whatever you did just then was seriously fucking with my mind. Don’t do that.”

“Wh-but,” Alyssa spluttered, nearly tripping over a bush-covered root, “you just said not to restrict myself!”

“I changed my mind,” he replied with a shrug.

“That was fast!” Selaria exclaimed. “Anyway, I believe I can put some sort of identity towards the owner of your special voice. Though I don’t have the full picture!”

“Really?” Alyssa asked. This would surely be interesting.

Just then, she felt the connection to her core grow ever so slightly thicker.

She...honestly had barely noticed it existed in the first place. She guessed it meant they were still getting closer? So her core was also a personal lighthouse of sorts?

In fact, the feeling grew with every step, so, she was probably correct? Her assumption felt right.

“Yep! So basically, there exist certain, quite powerful, individuals in a number of the magical races – Azata, Angels, Archons, Demons, et cetera. For we Azata, Empyreal Lords are their name – I prayed to one earlier if you caught that.”

“So that was a prayer? Pretty, uh, casual for a prayer.”

“It was! And it was. But it’s fine, she’s okay with it. Anyway, the point is that you sounded kinda like her. Just like, more. More more.”

“Right...” Alyssa nodded slowly, digesting that. “So these Empyreal Lords...are they Gods?”

“Gods?” Selaria squinted a glance at her as she fluttered in between her and Aaron. “No...not a God. There are none. That’s a very old word...” she trailed off, once more entering a weirdly concentrated trance.

“But you pray to them? What are they if not a God?”

“I...don’t know. Not a God...yet? I think. That sounds right,” Selaria nodded, slightly distracted.

“Okay, so if what I imitated was even more more than a not-yet-God, that must mean whatever it came from was pretty powerful right?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re not implying what I think you are, right?” Aaron spoke up, a raised eyebrow.

“Well, it would make a whole lot of sense!” she replied. Aaron just shook his head.

Which is that what spoke to humanity was a God. Or just God? It would add up! But how does a God send an entire race to a different planet? Different universe perhaps? If magic was a law of physics...no, that’s a rabbit hole she shouldn’t dive down right now.

A God spoke to them. That was her theory, right now. And was perhaps the initiator of their cosmic travel – assuming they weren’t just in a game or simulator. It was insane that this was even a thought process – quite the unprecedented paradigm shift, at any rate.

She wondered how other people were coping this first day. She thought she’d done well so far. Not dead yet. She usually had herself pegged for instant death in any apocalyptic scenario she played through in her head. She had no survival skills whatsoever, except for perhaps starting a fire?

She hadn’t considered that she simply might not be human and have all sorts of foreign instincts shoved into her head, which combined with a lack of daily needs, meant she had worryingly little to...worry about?

Other than potentially exploding in a shower of mana, but she didn’t seem to have any adverse effects from it. Maybe it was even healthy? You know, like how men supposedly reduce their risk of cancer through constant masturbation?

Being a bomb wasn’t exactly the same, most likely, and she certainly didn’t derive any pleasure from it, quite the opposite in fact, but still. It was worth the research?

Just as she thought that, her connection to her core grew another step, and she noticed that bits of rubble, dirt and broken pieces of trees, were starting to become commonplace.

They certainly weren’t here before, so...

Alyssa broke out in a sweat, and only got sweatier the more they walked. The terrain was positively showered in earth.

The source was obvious, and soon enough, right in front of them.

A rather large, circular crater now stood where the hill and her home had been.

Frankly, the scene reminded her of the hills that had been blown up from underground during World War One.

She sighed, and her eye was drawn to a familiar, purple sparkle slightly hidden amidst the ground.

She ignored Aaron’s wide open mouth, and Selaria’s smirk, stepping through what remained of the treeline, and hopped/stumbled/slid down into the crater.

As she crossed some kind of invisible threshold, she felt a chime in her mind, along with a gratifying sense of safety and familiarity.

Repair Core room? (Current: Shrine, Status: Destroyed)

She winced. Destroyed was A, putting it lightly and B, inflicting mental damage onto her soul to hear/read/digest inserted information.

She felt like she had failed. An overwhelming, familiar sense of defeat. She had not protected her Core room. That it was from herself was irrelevant. Her Core room was no more, and it was her fault. She had failed.

She bit her lip. It was unfair. The repair function. A real life undo button. It would certainly do no wonders to her self preservation instincts if she could simply use this when things went wrong. She almost didn’t want to confirm.

Almost.

Yes.

Nigh instantly, she blacked out.

***********************************

Numerous thoughts ran through the Lyrakien’s mind of chaos as the destruction wrought by her newest friend became totally apparent.

She really was completely insane! A mana explosion of this size and potency – the hill was gone – and she was none the worse for wear!

As her eyes glowed blue, it revealed yet more.

Complete saturation of the craters radius with Alyssa’s own mana. Considering it was a mana explosion, it was hardly surprising, but the range and size of the event was spectacular! Oh, what a joy it would have been to observe in person...

But further research would probably not be compatible with a long life, so...

She watched as the not-Kitsune entered her sphere of mana, wondering how it must have felt. Like being enveloped by a cozy blanket, perhaps? She’d have to ask later. Oh, all of this was truly exciting! She would have so much to tell everyone. Although, about that... She shook her head.

Hopefully, Alyssa wasn’t prone to spontaneous combustion. She may as well be classified as a weapon if that was the case. Wait, what if that’s what she was? Sentient weapons were a known factor...none had a humanoid form, though. Until now, perhaps?

Something to ponder on. The others would be able to assist in thought experiments.

She continued to idly watch, next to silly Aaron, the fly-catching statue, when Alyssa collapsed to the floor.

She blinked. Nothing had-?

Wow, that’s a lot of churning mana. She’s not going to explode again, right?

A speck of dirt hit her from behind – she twisted around and formed an ‘o’ with her mouth.

“There’s no way she’s-“

Except, she totally was.

Every single speck that had been displaced by the explosion was heading back towards its original position to reform the hill.

This sounded simple enough, but it was a hill. With extensive wildlife both above and below. The result was a torrent of dirt, stone, bits of trees, and a stupidly insane amount of mana – though curiously, she noted it wasn’t all Wild, it was seemingly mixed with Alyssa’s own internal variety.

Something to think about later – she darted up quickly to avoid being splattered by a returning tree trunk; she looked down as Aaron fell over from the same fate.

He’d be fine, maybe a bruise here or there, but nothing she couldn’t fix.

He probably cried out as his shins were pelted with stone, but she couldn’t hear much of anything.

It sounded quite like a colossal machine, with a thousand cogs all turning and grinding against the other thousand. Wait – a machine? She knew that word...again, another long lost one...? Such strange fragments of memories...

A stick poked her foot, and she returned to watch the scene with interest, flying yet higher as the height of the hill was reached. It was quite fast, all things considered, and very fun to watch.

Stone smashing, then melding together; splinters, branches and trunks all reforming into perfectly normal Nae trees; dirt and even patches of grass and bushes – a red berry flew past her face – it was a completely surreal sight. Rather like watching time itself be rewound.

But that wasn’t possible. Mimicry of the ‘talent’ was, but it was never true manipulation of time. Oh, sure, things could affect time – as it was bound to space, highly intense gravity based spells could distort time one second or so, but it still didn’t count as manipulation, at least as one thought of it when it came to time.

The argument was there that preservation spells were a sort of time spell, but time itself isn’t the cause of degradation. The spell protects against things that occur over time, yes, but not against time.

So...not a time spell, or time-ish spell. At least, her Detect Magic picked up no trace of it – besides the Wild, there was a lot of Conjuration and Abjuration, some Transmutation too, within Alyssa’s mana.

As the hill properly took shape, in form and colour, things began to slow down once more, and become generally safer. She wondered if the explosion or the recreation was the more dangerous event.

She peered down at an unconscious, bleeding Aaron, and then at the dead Quasit at the mouth of the cave.

Aha.

So that’s what got the fox so riled up? She could hardly be blamed for being so – these things were truly evil. As small as Selaria herself, yes, but evil and dangerous.

It was good to know, really – Alyssa having such a terminable reaction was yet further proof of her inclination.

But still, why was one here? The obvious answer was because of Alyssa, but she wondered more generally. In this corner of the continent, things like that found the aspect of the land quite poisonous if remaining for long periods of time – it would be much like her traveling to Szeria down south-ish.

So, an expendable scout or something?

She sighed, fluttering slowly down to treat Aaron before heading in.

Idleness and the status quo was boring, yes, but it being broken like this was still unsettling.

As she began to head inside, Aaron’s wounds tended to with a quick spell, wondering how Alyssa’s body was faring under the strain of such an intense magical event, she was secretly quite excited.

Bad omens were still omens, and all omens were interesting.

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