Blue and Elwin walked under the sullen grey sky, heading east towards the Shimmering Sea. For their rewards from the trial in the swamp, P’tira had gotten herself a significant quantity of morphic metal, the very same material her orb was made from. She now had enough of it to form a basic body, nearly five feet tall. Many parts of her were hollow
For Kari and Elwin, Blue had selected a variety of high-quality magical potions, which Elwin now possessed.
But before they could cross the sea, they would need to resupply at the seaside town of Sarigold City. Of course, even with such a plan, who knew if they would be able to make it past the city gates? With the loss of Kari and his cloaking ability, they would need to come up with some new strategies if they ran into trouble. Though admittedly, Blue being privy to Lucina’s communications now made that much less likely.
But it was this train of thought that led Elwin to make an unusual request.
“Blue, can you teach me magic?” Elwin asked his compatriot as they walked.
“Why do you ask all of a sudden?” Blue replied.
“With Kari gone, I’m worried we won’t be strong enough to fight.”
“That is a valid concern… Though I would argue that with Kari gone, we will have less need to fight in the first place.”
“Oh… That is true I suppose.” Elwin said. He hadn’t considered that. Nevertheless, he felt uneasy. Elwin knew how to throw a punch, or how to use his Gift to attack and defend, but he had none of the lethality, experience, or survival instincts that Kari had had.
“If you want to learn magic, then I will teach you, but I do not think it will help you fight. Combat magic is notoriously difficult to execute. You will need to be precise and decisive, not just with producing the magical drawings, but also with reagent placement and selection.”
“Oh…”
“To be honest with you, Elwin, I had hoped that restoring a body to myself would allow my Gift to re-manifest… But it seems that won’t be happening until I am returned to flesh-and-blood.”
“So what do we do?”
“Hmm.” Blue mused, coming to a stop. Elwin fell into step beside her, watching with his usual curiosity.
The digitised elf brandished her metallic arms in the overcast light. The surface of her arms rippled and changed shape and texture as she desired. Softening like skin, hardening like ceramic tiling. Then, she drew material to her fingers, which fused together, becoming a long and elegant blade. She tested its balance with a few swings, and then reshaped her body again, the blade morphed into a bulbous and spiked mace. Blue swung it into the ground with a satisfying thud. It sunk deep into the mossy ground by the side of the road.
“I have some work to do in figuring out my most lethal form, but I think I will be able to protect us adequately.”
Blue returned her hands to normal, looking at Elwin for his response. The young elf bore a frightened look on his face.
“So I take it that you are satisfied with your safety?”
“I-I guess so.”
Blue started off walking again along the mossy cobblestone path. But, she soon spoke up nary a dozen paces later, breaking the silence punctuated by the sounds of their muted footsteps.
“Well, it might get rather boring with nothing to do on the way to Sarigold.” The silver woman said with a smile on her face.
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Elwin’s ears perked up.
“So does that mean that you’ll teach me magic?” Elwin reiterated with some certainty in his voice.
“Yes, pay close attention now,” Blue replied.
And so, as they travelled throughout the day, Blue taught Elwin the basics of magic theory. Her student found it strangely unfamiliar to see her words accompanied by physical gestures, owing to her new body. It was truly like she was a new person. Besides gestures, however, Blue also made use of her unique form to display useful holographic diagrams and recordings to aid in Elwin’s education.
The fundamentals were as such: Magic was both an art form and a method of communicating with ADAM. By arranging reagents in certain patterns, one could send a request to them. ADAM would act in kind, causing a phenomenon that matched the request. The hard part was knowing what meaning the spell would have, even switching the arrangement of the materials could drastically affect the outcome.
In some respects, magic was very similar to enchantment that Elwin was so familiar with as an Ellenian craftself. Enchantment relied on magical patterns being sustained in order to deliver their effects, and it similarly relied on using geometric shapes and patterns to convey or reinforce certain meanings.
There were also rules, of course. Magic could not directly target the body inhabited by a soul; a rule otherwise known as Universal Law. Yet, magic could paradoxically target the soul itself, though reagents that allowed this were extremely rare, and spell compositions largely unknown. Blue claimed that this exception was due to ADAM’s divine nature, of higher precedence. As a being of a higher power, ADAM had authority over lower beings. It was what allowed his wishes to affect all of creation.
Another strange fact that stood out as unusual to Elwin was the fact that the soul itself could be used as a reagent, though the product of the spell would often include that same soul, modified in some way.
Their lesson was a good distraction from the loss of Kari. Yet Blue could not help but notice Elwin’s attention growing short. His responses were slower, and he frequently failed to repeat back key concepts that Blue was taking pains to explain.
“…Alright then, that’s enough for now.” Blue declared after some time.
“Oh. Okay.” Elwin said, a bit taken aback at the abrupt end of their lesson.
“Something is worrying you. I hope it isn’t that business with Kari?” said Blue.
“No, I mean… yes. Sort of?” Elwin said, struggling over his words.
“Just spit it out.”
Elwin sighed.
“I misjudged Kari’s character so badly… What if Lumie is also not who I think she is.”
“Lumie… That’s the girl waiting for you in Al Dherjza, is it not?.”
“Y-yeah,” Elwin said, a bit embarrassed.
“Do not be shy about it. That will not do you any favours. Own it.”
“Right. Of course…” Elwin said, a little surprised at Blue’s encouragement. “Anyway,” he continued, “I’m just worried that I might be making a mistake, being all the way out here for nothing, away from my family and my people who might need me.”
“Come now, hold no doubts. There is no benefit to be had to in anxiety, and there is no better way to help anyone than to continue onwards to ADAM.” Said Blue.
Elwin found her reassurances helpful. It was true, their rather vague journey had come to serve a greater purpose after they had met the elder fairy P’tira. It just seemed a little far-fetched to Elwin that anything the two of them did might ever turn the tide against the overwhelming might of the Incandestine invaders.
Unless they could reach ADAM and make a wish, that is.
Their magic lessons continued throughout the morning, giving Elwin all sorts of ideas for potential spells. Unfortunately, they were unable to secure many reagents to practice with; whatever they currently held was best saved in case of an emergency.
After hours of travelling through the monotonous green hills, Elwin certainly was glad that they had something to do. Sure, the Mossy Highlands were a novel sight for Elwin, who had only seen the world outside Ellenia in paintings and magical scrying mirrors, but it was a rather boring one. It was difficult to identify one hill from another. Compared to the swamp with its overbearing atmosphere of danger and suspense, Elwin preferred this boring one. Barely.
The overcast weather began to worsen as the afternoon approached. The cloud cover obscuring the eyesore that was the Intercessor was a welcome change. However, the gentle drips of intermittent rain gave way to a sudden, roaring, and most unwelcome downpour.
Blue used her new body to shelter Elwin by morphing her left arm. The metal turned into a thin rod that blossomed into a terraced cone at the top; a stylish umbrella. Blue didn’t afford herself any such protection since the rain had only superficial effects on her shiny metal body.
Elwin trudged on through quickly forming puddles. Blue clinked alongside him, having transformed her feet into claws to better distribute her weight. Luckily, the hilly terrain meant that the area wouldn’t flood. However, the extra moisture still led to a treacherous environment, especially when combined with the mossy stone path. Elwin shifted the moss away from his feet as he walked, though it still left a slimy residue.
If Kari was around, this would be much easier. Elwin found himself thinking before quickly brushing the thought from his mind.