As I settled into my chair, I could see Meleri was itching to ask something. “Alright, sis, what is it?” She glanced over at Jaira for a moment. “Well… I was wondering about… Magic.” Well, that was nice and all. “That’s a very… broad term. I will need a bit more to work with here.”
Meleri took a deep breath. “Well, I’m not sure if…” Her voice trailed off as she glanced at Jaira again. Jaira, for her part, gave her a confused look. “Hun, if there is something you want to ask don’t beat around the bush, it’s annoying.” Meleri took another deep breath. “Does she… you know… know?”
Jaira looked at her for a second, then let out a chuckle. “About your origins? Hun, I know you and my darling mother aren’t from around here. I don’t know the exact details, as my darling mother told me to stop digging for my safety. But yes, I do. Now, considering you are more open to the subject, I expect something has happened that changed your stance on that?” Jaira looked at me as she spoke the last question.
“Something, yes. A minor footnote left inside one of the tomes gave me written permission to speak about it, provided I kept it on the down low, family and close friends only.” This earned me a few confused glances from Soot and the others, since that did not add up with what I told them, but Jaira perked up. “Then may I request you enchant my sleep so I can get a catchup on everything so far?”
Her question made me flinch. Queue outburst from Miva in 3… 2… 1… “YOU CAN DO THAT? Enchant my dreams too!” Miva jumped from her chair and rushed over to give me doe-eyes and was followed shortly by Ivy, who, despite already knowing from Soot, the others, wanted first-hand experience. “And mine, I want to see too!”
“FINE, I can do that. It would be easier to get it on all of you as a group, however, so that means, Jaira, you’re sleeping in your wagon, here, tonight. So I’d send one of your guards back to Nekkal to inform your other servants. I do NOT want a repeat of last time.” Jaira froze for a second, then just deflated. “Very well, Darling. I know better than to argue with you on things like this.” She walked over to the door and I could hear her muffled voice outside, likely deciding which of the three to send to Nekkal.
Soot flew over and landed on my shoulder. “Is there really such permission, or did you just make it up?” I waved my hand and the book about spatial magic flew over. “Look here, I noticed this when looking through it to see if I could expand the rooms of the house after Meleri got here.” I pointed out a small, elegant message under the index of the book. “It wasn’t there when I originally read it, and it’s not ‘S’ handwriting. However, considering nothing can stain the books, including spilled ink…” Soot chirped for a few seconds, lost in thought, before he echoed my own thoughts on the subject. “One of S’ companions or superiors, that’s what you’re thinking?”
I shrugged as I put the book away. “It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Any entity powerful enough to write in these books without me noticing, through a Dimensional Anchor Effect and the books’ powerful protective spells, is powerful enough to just end me. As such, I can only assume it’s a blanket’s permission and act on that. Since it wouldn’t change much, anyway. If I’m being honest, it’s better to not think too hard about it, lest you face too much existential dread.”
Soot tilted his head for a moment as he read the message. “I see, fair enough, consider my curiosity sated.” I reached up and scratched his head, earning more chirps. “Well now, with that cleared up. What did you want to ask, sis?” Meleri blinked a few times. “Could you explain a bit more about how magic functions? I mean, I experienced some pretty powerful magic first hand, and I am still trying to wrap my head around it.”
As she spoke, Winter landed on her lap and Meleri stroked her feathers gently, earning several delightful little hoots from her. It would seem the two were getting along, so that was nice. “That’s a rather broad term. So I will just go into the general knowledge of it.” Jaira glanced at Meleri with a near desperate expression, knowing what was coming.
“So Magic in this world is a thing that exists in everything around us, plants, earth, air, the animals, even you and me, and any items we make. Now, depending on what type of magic you use it relies on either internal storage, like Wizards, Mages and several other forms of ‘structured’ magic. Then you have those that rely on mana in the air around them like Channelers, Geomancers, Warlocks and Clerics. All of them rely on an outside source of magic, be it a patron entity/deity or just mana in the natural area. With me so far?” Meleri nodded. “Sounds easy enough.”
“Things get a bit more complicated when we get into the things that can combine internal stores and ambient mana. Thaumaturges, Witches, Shamans, and a bunch of different creatures with access to natural magic abilities all have this capability. Take our resident glutton over here.” I nodded towards Ivy, who was munching on some nuts that were in a bowl on the table. “She can eat several times her own body weight and size in food. That is because of magic. There is no way she could do that without.”
Ivy stuffed a bit of a hazelnut into her mouth. “Canth-” she stopped talking and swallowed. “I can confirm.” She grinned widely as she resumed munching. “Oy Ivy, keep in mind that my sister is making dinner tonight. Slow down on those.” Ivy gave a lout trilling noise, then finished the nut. “Right, forgot about that!” She flew away from the bowl and landed on top of Miva’s head. Miva reached up and poked at her, causing Ivy to jump on top of Miva’s hand and as the two started playing.
“Now, as I mentioned, plenty of creatures, as well as witches, can use internal and external mana storage. This means that we have a much higher magic capacity than normal. This comes with its own risks, however. While the magic of those that can use both is more free form, it’s also more prone to spectacular malfunctions. Channelers and other external users can only take in so much external magic at once. So if things go wrong, they suffer sensory overload from the pain and pass out long before anything truly dangerous happens. And once they pass out, they aren’t channeling anymore, so the magic stops.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Meleri nodded, signalling she understood. I took a sip from my glass before I continued. “Internal casters have more risk involved because if you run out of internal storage, their magic will siphon their life force to compensate. It’s why most wizards and mages look old and wizened, even if they are pretty young. And if they screw up big, they are dead.” Jaira cleared her throat. “You would need to mess up in the worst way possible for it to get to that point, though, isn’t that right, Darling?” I nodded.
“Then we have the ones that can do both, which are split into two subcategories, Instinctual, and Natural casters. Instinctual casters are sorcerers and creatures with a natural affinity for magic. Again, I will make Ivy our prime example of an Instinctual magic user. A Natural magic user is well what a Witch is, they learn to use both internal and external magic. This carries with it a lot of risk, however. In my early days, my spells would more often than not blow up in my face, with spectacular results. Heck, if I become emotional enough, they can still go haywire even these days.”
Meleri looked thoughtful for a bit. “What about dragons? Do they exist, right?” The room went dead quiet. I should have known that was coming, Meleri and her obsession with those things. “I was waiting for that one. Yes, dragons exist, no you shouldn’t look for them. Dragons are a god-damn calamity every time one of them wakes up from their epic power naps. And before you ask, I would not win against a dragon. The damn things are effectively immune to magic cast by others, have an insane internal magic capacity, and their scales are reinforced by their own magic. This means you need enchanted weapons to even HOPE to get through their scales. Not to deal any additional damage, mind, but to cancel the protection and be able to damage the scales. Mundane weapons would just bounce off, dealing no damage, regardless of where they hit. Oh, and they also view almost everything that isn’t a dragon as food.”
I could see Meleri visibly deflate as I spoke. Jaira patted her shoulders. “Basically, Hun, a dragon waking up would see the wholesale evacuation of this entire region if it was anywhere nearby, and for good reason. You would need an extremely skilled group of people to take down a dragon, and they would need to be ready to handle adversities that would scar them for life at the best-case scenario.” Jaira’s usual jovial demeanor was dead serious as she spoke. “This also means Draconic materials are worth a small fortune, even in small amounts.” She remained stoic, then after a moment a playful smile broke her stoic expression.
I rose from my chair, walked over to the nut bowl and offered some to Soot, who took a few eagerly. “Yes, but the TLDR is. Stay away from dragons if you value your life, and the life of every other living thing else in a 500km radius. More than one fool has unleashed a regional devastation by poking around the wrong cave network.”
Jaira nodded. “The last time a dragon was active it took a literal army of extremely well-equipped troops to take it down, and that was after it laid waste to several kingdoms.” I walked over to Meleri and gave her back a few pats. “There are Wyrms though, or as I like to call them ‘civilized dragons’ they are far more personable, even have their own empire. Unfortunately for you, however, they all live far to the east, and I have never met one myself, though I believe…” I looked over at Jaira, who got my hint.
“The Eastern Empire does indeed have a huge Wyrm population, mostly because they live far longer than most other races. They are… Hmm, I don’t really know how to describe them, as they are a rather eccentric bunch, both in personality and appearance.” She gave a shrug.
I went and grabbed my bestiary. “Here is what they look like, baseline. Keep in mind, this is just a generic appearance. Most are apparently quite different, but this is the baseline.” As I showed her the page about wyrms, it showed a humanoid creature with digitigrade legs and three large clawed toes. A long sinuous and prehensile tail, four clawed fingers on their hands and a set of majestic antlers.
Their eyes were almond-shaped and serpentine, while their noses looked like a cross between a nose and a serpent’s snout. Another picture showed their teeth were sharp and serrated. Their bodies were covered in scales except on the belly and face where it instead looked like leathery skin. While their hair was a majestic mane that according to the book could vary drastically in length and coloration.
“As you can see, they aren’t exactly the dragons you expect, at least not in their humanoid forms. I think you will find their true forms more familiar.” Meleri looked up at me with a confused expression, and so I motioned for her to turn the page. She did, and her eyes widened. “Now, I believe you know them as Eastern Dragons.” I couldn’t suppress a grin as I watched all the emotions she was going through.
I took the book back. “That being said, You will not be going there, young lady.” Meleri opened her mouth to protest, but I held up a finger to silence her. “Because, dear sister, that’s a three-month trip as the bird flies, closer to double that when you’re going by ground. And let’s not forget, dear sister, you know nothing about this world. If I let you go there, you’d likely get killed on the way there, or worse. And yes, there are worse fates than death in this world. At any rate, it’s almost dinnertime, so why don’t you test out your new cooking utensils and get your mind off this?”
I paused for a moment before adding. “That aside, sis, you forget we have a lot of time on our hands. If you are set on meeting a dragon in the future, that’s fine, but not until you are powerful enough to protect yourself. In fact, if it wasn’t for your baseline enhanced strength and magical resistance, I am pretty damn sure even Ivy could take you in a fight right now, and she hates fighting.”
Meleri looked at me for a moment, then chuckled. “Fair enough, sis. I’ll just postpone it for now. If things are as dire as you say, it would be better to wait. Besides, I’m interested in learning some magic myself. Of course, she would. “If you’re sure you want to do that, then we can start with some light lessons tomorrow. For now, dinner, if you wouldn’t mind, as two out of three familiars get cranky if it’s late.” I glanced at Midnight and Winter. Meleri threw her hands out with a defeated smile and moved towards the kitchen. “Fine, just you wait and see. I’ll whip up something marvelous.” She seemed determined, at least. Which meant that it would be delicious, if her last meal was anything to go by.