Scholar Phoenix Clone [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ADCreHeloC_GXoPCdUmhEuMGNr6A5vnzQA4vACX--MmeEmEufSBpIB8eIZy1RCN8kH6kJZKLRN001MtTiQ3McwB_TR-a6CwsYdsn3g0Wqpob0N79Ur3EsqZPbF-GkwjfBUyIQtxkY0UNuu_HUHulwMXEmXMf=w1024-h1536-s-no?authuser=2]
Phoenix turned to look at her party leader when he snagged her arm as she turned south to head from her dorm to the gate leading to the international district of Tulimeir. The day was overcast but it hadn’t started snowing yet, though, the threat loomed in the cold air.
“Hey, now’s a perfect time to do a quickie,” Dazien said, gesturing to the west instead.
“What?” she asked in confusion, “We're still going to the temple district in the southeast, aren’t we?”
The dark tan man grinned, “Yeah, but I told you earlier that we would get you set up with it so you can grab a quickie whenever you wanted to but then the blood moon happened and I totally forgot about it.”
The Wayfarer hesitated and glanced towards her silent party member as she asked Uriel, “I’m almost afraid to ask him but what’s a quickie?”
The tall cinderen smirked slightly, “The Quicksteam transportation system we mentioned before. It will be faster than walking but you have to pay a little to use it.”
The redhead visibly relaxed as she gave the fluffy bird nestled on top of her head a quick pat while jostling her Familiar slightly with a nod, “Oh, is that what those glass cart things up along the top of the walls are?”
“Yeah, there’s a mirrored system below ground as well that’s cheaper than the Skylines but for your first quickie we should definitely take the scenic view,” the gemite explained with an impish grin.
She nodded her head absently as she stared upwards to the topic of their discussion and let herself be pulled along. From this distance, she could just make out the glint of tinted colored glass capsules swiftly moving along the upper ledge of the towering walls. The single rail that seemed to support them had steam rising from it in little puffs as it pushed the capsules along their routes.
When they reached the western gate, her companions dragged her toward one of the doors that was placed on either side of the long tunnel passing through the wall to the outer district. The doors apparently led to a large stairwell leading both up and down within the metal defenses.
“Up for the Skylines, down for the Landlines, not that difficult,” Dazien explained as he held her hand and led her through the crowds and upward. She made sure to grab Uriel’s hand as well to not lose her quiet companion either.
As they were walking up the steps, her little phoenix Familiar surprised her by suddenly leaping off her head to fly towards something on the ground that she couldn’t see, “Tala! Get back here!” she called out.
She reached out as they got closer and scooped up the bird quickly only to let out a squeal as some sort of hazy white rat creature dropped from her beak. As it squeaked and ran off Dazien said, “Ah, if she’s going to chase after steamers then you’d best hold on to her or merge. Those avals like to bathe in the jets the Quicksteam produces.”
Phoenix grumbled, “I am not glowing through the city. I can hold her.”
Once they reached the station platform, stopping just before there was nothing but sky above them, Phoenix was slightly overwhelmed by the crowds spread out with a few different lines that people were organizing themselves into.
Her guide pointed at the colored signs above each one as he explained, “See, at this station we can get on the Green, Red, Violet, and Silver lines that go to other stations like this around the city. We’ll want the Violetline to the temple district.”
As the gemite led them to the line with a pale purple sign above it along with a list of various notable places along it, Phoenix found her head on a swivel as she tried to read and see everything at once. Up close the glass capsules were much larger, able to hold about two dozen people at once, and kind of reminded her of bubbles that had been stretched out. Like the elevator platforms common in the skyscrapers throughout the city, it had a silvery metal floor and glass doors on the side facing the landing but the walls and roof were also made of the same tinted glass.
“So do these passenger bubble-things all go the same direction? And we have to ride the whole route to get back?” she asked Dazien curiously as they awaited their turn.
“These ones do but there’s a level below us that goes the opposite direction so depending on where you’re headed you just pick the fastest direction along the route,” he explained patiently, “They’re all running along the same runerail, but see how each port, or ‘bubble-thing’ as you put it, aren’t connected to each other?”
Phoenix nodded as she watched the ports move along the rail without any sign of a driver or running into each other, “Well the ports have runes indicating their routes and the runerail steers them along, causing the ports to turn at the right times without interfering with the others.”
Then he nudged her forward and she found herself entering one of the glass ports that was tinted purple, “We just need to get the right quickie.”
She rolled her eyes at him and asked, “Why don’t you just call it grabbing a port?”
He gave her a flat look and asked, “If I asked you of all people to grab a port, what would you think I meant?”
Her mind immediately went to her portal ability, [Transversing the Stars], and she simply replied, “Ah. Right.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” the gemite continued as the glass doors began closing behind Uriel and the other passengers that had gotten on with them, “Plenty of locals will call them ports too since we don’t have that many Casters with a portal ability in the city and those are usually for longer distances since you can only use them in designated areas without the officials getting cranky.”
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The Wayfarer was only half-listening as her attention got caught by the view of the outer city speeding along beneath them to the sound of steam hissing and she maneuvered herself closer to the glass wall to get a better view of the glittering skyscrapers without squishing her Familiar. Before she knew it, they had passed the western logistics district, gone through the martial and international districts and then were climbing out of the port at a station in the temple district.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Phoenix asked warily as she stared up at the large pagoda temple where she had first met the goddess, Scholar. It had been much quicker to take the Violetline than if they had walked and she resolved herself to grab a quickie whenever she could justify it.
“You’re asking this at the front doors and not back at your place?” Dazien asked with a laugh.
“Can’t we just put the whole building into my collection and call it a day?”
The warrior raised an eyebrow and explained, “That’s actually impossible for you to do, Phoenix. Aside from you not actually owning the building and everything inside, which the magic can actually sense,” he raised a hand to stall her question, “No, don’t ask me how. I’m not wasting my life researching that esoteric field of study. Now, aside from that, it would cost more than your mana pool could possibly contain to perform that action.”
“Um, it’s a natural talent. Like a passive ability. It doesn’t have a cost like mana,” she pointed out in confusion.
“Every action requires some kind of energy exchange,” the gemite expounded, “Just because the cost is usually negligible, like pulling things in and out of your personal dimensional storage, doesn't mean it’s non-existent. Your book likely doesn’t list a cost cause it’s probably fractions of a drop of mana and not worth listing.”
She pouted at him and mumbled, “So no dropping a mountain on an enemy fortress?”
He laughed, shaking his head, “No, Phoenix. Now, quit trying to break magic,” he scolded and walked up the steps to enter without her.
Phoenix still hesitated as she watched her party leader enter the divine pagoda and Uriel placed a hand on her shoulder in a show of support, pointing out, “You’ve already gained her favor; what more could she do to you?”
The Wayfarer shivered at the memory of the intense pain of being directly touched by divine power and muttered, “She seemed like the hugging type…”
The cinderen chuckled and gestured for her to go first and she complied with a sigh. Once inside, she quickly forgot all her worries and remembered that they were now standing in what amounted to the city library. Books were everywhere, packing every shelf, and lining every wall. A few tables and seating areas were spread around that were mostly occupied as people quietly read or wrote down notes.
There was comfortable silence and the air of mutual respect towards your fellow learner as they walked through the aisles. The scent of paper, leather, and ink suffused the temple and Phoenix thought she could happily spend every day curled up in a corner here.
When they made their way up to a reception desk the attendant merely pointed towards the glass lift in the center of the pagoda and answered their unspoken inquiry, “The book you’re looking for is on the fifth floor near the south wall.”
Dazien didn’t speak like she had expected, instead giving a slight bow with a hand over his heart before silently leading them to the elevator. When the doors closed he explained to her questioning look, “In here, we show our respect by not talking unless necessary. Even my tongue knows when to respect another culture’s customs.”
“Another culture?” she asked, unfamiliar with the usage in this context.
He shrugged, “Sure. Cultures aren’t always location bound. They’re tied to a way of living, whether it’s the culture of the noble aristocrats, the families of the tundra, or the clergy of a deity. Their customs and traditions and goals are what make up their culture.”
“But you hate being silent,” the redhead pointed out, causing Uriel to chuckle beside her and Tala gave two cheeps from on top of her head to voice her agreement.
“I don’t hate it,” Dazien retorted, “I just think it often leads to misunderstandings. However, even if I disagree with some part of a culture, I can still show my respect by adhering to their way of doing things, especially if it’s not directly hurting anyone.”
“Hmm, a kind of truce?” she asked.
The gemite shrugged, “Something like that I guess,” he agreed and led the way as the lift doors opened onto the fifth floor.
As the party neared the southern wall, Phoenix froze at the sight of the large sitting area filled with what looked like bean bag chairs and a glowing little girl standing in the middle of it all. The tiny goddess was grinning from ear to ear while excitedly bouncing on the tips of glowing boots and holding a book close to the chest.
What had shocked Phoenix the most however, was the head of auburn curls framing a pale face with bright green eyes. With the addition of the black fur-lined scholar robes the girl was wearing, the Wayfarer thought she had found the child of Ron and Hermoine. Then another thought later she was reminded that she looked like the child of the pair and was about to ask the Scholar a question when her previous thought was addressed first.
“Who’s Ron and Hermoine?” Scholar asked while walking up to her party that were all staring at the goddess utterly speechless.
When her mind raced through memories of seven books, eight movies, a play script, and more fan creations than she liked to admit, the deity responded, “Ooohhhh, well that kind of cantrip magic that requires wands is basically what Mundanes do here so they wouldn’t be as special in this world.”
“Why do you look like the child version of me?!” Phoenix redirected, asking the more important question than comparing magic systems.
Scholar grinned happily at her, “Because you’re the newest interesting thing!”
She groaned as her face fell into her palms and the small deity added softly so that only she could hear, “Plus, I figured this way you’re not so alone and unique in the city.”
Phoenix glanced up at her, the gentle smile and knowing eyes trying to reassure her and she felt herself relax slightly, “Thanks, I guess. Um, we came to-”
“Get this book, I know,” the goddess said and handed it towards her while verifying, “The Encyclopedia of Makera, Common Knowledge Edition. I’m surprised you didn’t come by earlier to get it. Just because I said to not ask for a quest clue until Sapphire didn’t mean don’t come back for anything until then.”
“Quest clue?” Dazien asked, finally interjecting with a question.
Scholar grinned at him, “Not for you to know, otherwise Confidant will get angry at me,” then the grin turned impish and was a match for the teasing gemite’s own as the little copy cat added, “If you joined my clergy however, I could impart all sort of knowledge about-”
“No. Thank you, Lady Scholar, but I will not join a church,” he gave a slight grin and added, “But you knew that when you offered.”
The goddess gave a childish laugh full of glee as she nodded, “Indeed I did, Little King. But it never hurts to ask. Sometimes just making the option known can be enough to sway someone’s mind.”
“What do we owe for the book?” Uriel asked quietly.
Scholar smiled and said, “Just an hour of me directing all of your thoughts with the questions I ask.”
The cinderen nodded and sat on one of the sack chairs as the others followed suit and Scholar bombarded them with questions without ever giving them the chance to speak a response.