Chapter 42 - Chicks (Patreon)

While they were waiting for the babies to hatch, Avery continued to push Violet to grow with her magic.  “Repetition is not good enough, dearie.  If you want your magic to grow, you need to think of new ways to use your magic.”

Avery started each morning off with a new scenario for Violet to use her magic to solve.  After a while, some scenarios were duplicated.  The catch was Violet needed to find another way to solve the problem.  They used a giant map that reminded Violet of a gameboard for these scenarios.  ‘You locate some ancient ruins while using your Far Seeing aspect.  What problems would you expect to find once you got there, and how would you minimize the threat to yourself any others of your party?’

Lately, Avery had picked up on Violet’s love of all things ancient.  Many of her scenarios were geared to protect her in the future.  There were many dangers when approaching the ruins of the ancients. Not all of those dangers originated from the buildings.  The old buildings made perfect homes for all types of creatures, both sapient and non-sapient.

Most of Violet’s afternoons and evenings were dedicated to gaining synchronization with her spatial magic.  While she still practiced the other two types of magic she had, they were not quick to level.  The more magic types she had, the more options she had to combine aspects.

Teleportation ended up having quite a few limitations that she had identified.  For example, she could teleport partial items, but nothing happened when she tried to break off a piece of hardened metal.  She was finding the same rule of double her weight for teleporting items.

She hit her first wall when she attempted to teleport one of the rodents across the room.  No matter how much she tried, she could not make the magic work.  This same limitation applied to living plants as well.  She concluded that her spatial magic did not work on living things.

“What good is Teleportation if I can’t use it on anything living?”

“You can use it on yourself, dearie.  Go ahead and try it, just be careful and make sure to cover your whole body with the spell.”

When she tried to use the aspect on herself, the spell felt like it was meant for this purpose.  She focused on a spot not far from where she was standing, and her body blinked into existence in that place.  Unfortunately, that short teleport had cost her just under half of her mana.

“Why is it so expensive?  The objects I’ve been teleporting around are fairly cheap in terms of mana cost.”

“Honey, I don't know specifics. Taking a guess, I would say you need to practice.  Teleportation was likely created with short distances in mind.  If you want to move further than you can physically see, you will need to wait for Portal.  That aspect is one a spatial magician will receive last or nearly last.”

“How far away could I create a Portal?”

“You can create a Portal anywhere you have previously been and can picture perfectly.  The catch to this is, the further away it is, the more mana it will require to make.  Ancient mages had a way of sharing their mana with others to create long-distance portals.  To keep such a portal open required even more mana for it to remain stable.”

[Synchronization increased: Spatial 48%]

“Avery, could you uncover the crystal, please?  I have reached the next threshold for a new aspect.”

When Violet entered the mindscape, Lonny was missing.  A new logic puzzle was placed in its usual spot, but the clues were missing.   ‘Lovely, should I just roll the dice and randomly choose the correct answer?  No, the system is forcing me to use my head and my other aspects.’  After going down the list of her spatial abilities, Far Seeing was the most logical one for her to use.

Using her Far Seeing aspect, she started to zoom in on the distant stars.  She found the first clue on her third cast.  The star she had focused on had a slight purple hue to it, distinguishing it from others.  If Lonny were here, she would have asked for more information, the number of clues varied from puzzle to puzzle, and she was unsure if she had found them all.  Once she was reasonably sure she had solved the grid correctly, she said out loud, “My answers are complete.”

Lonny chose that moment to finally materialize long enough for him to wave at her before she was booted from her mindscape.

Congratulations, you have received the aspect for Slow Time with synchronization starting at 11%.

To return for more aspects, you must have a total of 56% synchronization for Spatial.

“Avery, what can you tell me about Slow Time?”

“Not much, dearie.  Time may slow down for you, but it will look like you have sped up to those on the outside.  I suggest you practice this aspect while moving or on moving objects.”  She was about to say more when one of the eggs she was sitting on started to rock.

“You may watch, but please do not come near the nest while my eggs are hatching.”

Rasmus arrived quickly after the first egg began to shake.  It was cute watching him fidget and pace.  At one point, Avery had to tell him to hold still or leave.  Poor Rasmus ducked his head as if he had been beaten.

“I don't know why you are always so nervous. It is nowhere near our first clutch.”

“You know me, I always worry.”

Violet was thankful they decided to include her in this momentous occasion.  They were speaking out loud for her benefit.  Their bond did not require them to share spoken words.  All of Rasmus’ worrying was for naught in the end.  All four eggs hatched without problems to cute fuzzy-looking chicks.

She could not describe the babies as small, mainly due to her perspective.  When they hatched, they were already larger than she was!  All four of the babies were dominantly yellow, but each sported a second color on their chests.  Black, orange, purple, and green were the extra colors.

“It is rare that our babies are not born with air mana, as evidenced by their yellow fluff.  The second color is the other school of magic they will receive if they choose not to be a purist.”  Rasmus explained while Avery was feeding their young.

“Will you urge your chick with spatial affinity to become a purist?”

“Ah, I see you have hit the nail on the head.  While we will urge her not to pick up the spatial school of magic, it will ultimately be her choice.  She would likely not be hunted because it would be her second magic school making it impossible to receive the dreaded Divination.  Not all beings are that logical, so it would still be a risk.”

“Is there a way to track someone who has spatial magic?”

“There are ancient tools still in existence to track if Divination is being used.  Most artifacts have broken over the years, but no doubt a crusade will be launched when you receive that aspect and use it away from here the first time.  Fortunately, those ancient tools are no longer mobile, so all they will know is the general direction you are located in.  There are powerful wards around the aerie to prevent detection.”

“I will simply not use Divination outside of the aviary.”

“Oh child, if only it were that easy.  Divination will trigger itself.  Time will freeze while you see what you were meant to.  Draining your mana to stop the visions will not work.  Self-triggered episodes do not cost mana.”

“So I will turn into a freak that can’t function because of all the futures that will constantly spring themselves on me?”

“It is my understanding that it is rare for Divination to trigger on its own.  The usual cause is to keep its user from certain death.”

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The chicks grew surprisingly fast.  At a month old, their dark brown feathers began to emerge through their thermal down.  They were not particularly pretty during this stage of growth.  She did not dare mention this observation to their doting parents, not wanting to offend them.

Avery did not allow Violet near the nest while her chicks were growing.  It was not so much about trust than it was about her not wanting Violet to get hurt.  The children had a one-year-old mentality and saw everything moving as their next meal.  They were already the size of a baby elephant, so Violet could do naught to defend herself from them.  It would take another month for the chicks to develop enough to be safe around.

“Will they develop multicolored feathers when they become adults?”

“They should. It has happened in the past that some chicks have unique coloring.  It is rare, and those individuals are often air magic purists.”

Both Avery and Rasmus (when he was around) could talk for hours on the topic of their babies.  The drawback to them having such a long-lived race was clutches were rare.  They were only able to reproduce under a specific solar event that happened once every two hundred years.  After the eggs were laid, both mother and father needed to infuse the eggs with their mana to ensure magical and healthy babies.  This process lasted for two grueling years.

During one of her afternoon practice sessions, she received the message she had been waiting for.

[Synchronization increased: Spatial 50%]

It was time for her to receive another school of magic.

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AN:  Early post because I'm not sure how much time I will have tomorrow.