Sabbatical – Chapter 204: Considering Connections

Aperio crossed her arms in front of her chest. They had arrived at the park, and she could finally watch with her own eyes the ocean of mortals within. A small smile, perhaps a little wicked, spread across her face as she spotted amongst a small group the mortal whose store they had visited first.

"What are you planning?" Caethya asked, following the All-Mother's gaze, lingering briefly on John before it settled on a Human who had added some fake Elven ears to her own. "Is that the friend he mentioned?"

"Probably," Aperio replied. "She wanted some tips on creation, did she not? I would think that I am uniquely qualified to offer advice on that topic."

"Not any she would understand," Caethya replied with a shrug. "But we can still go and meet them if you want, seems fun. Can't feel any magic from any of them, though."

The All-Mother let a bit more of her aura flow around the group of mortals, none of them showing a reaction. Either the near total lack of mana within them made them unable to notice it, or they were masters of disguise. Aperio doubted it was the latter.

"Friends of yours?" Eleanor asked as she noticed the group Aperio and Caethya had been observing.

"No, just someone we met a little while ago." Aperio tilted her head slightly, not quite sure how long they had been on Earth already. I should start counting days… In the end, it didn't really matter. Time truly had no meaning to her.

"If you want to meet some of the other council members, I can introduce you," the mortal mage continued. "I have worked for a few of them."

"That would be appreciated," the All-Mother replied, and after John had finally noticed her and she had given him a small wave — and the tiniest wiggling of her ears — she allowed herself to shift her focus away from his group.

"Follow me, then," Eleanor said, doing her best to hide her excitement from the All-Mother. An endeavour that failed, of course.

Their small group fell into step behind the mortal mage, a few nudges of Aperio's magic ensuring that nobody stood in their way. If she was not leading the group, the mortal sea did not part without a little intervention. Still need to figure out how that works… Do they move out of the way because that is what I have come to expect?

She could not see or feel any magic that might cause the phenomenon; the mortals seemingly simply knew she was coming and moved out of the way. Well, I am frequently told that people can feel my presence in their Soul. Still, it was yet to be explained how those who did not know magic could still interpret the feeling of it within them and act upon it.

"Something on your mind?" Adam asked. "You are squinting an awful lot at everyone."

"I am merely trying to understand how the mortals always make way for me without seeing me," Aperio replied. "When I led the group, I was not using magic to nudge them away like I am now, but they still made way."

"Instinct," the man replied with a shrug. "We also know when someone is looking at us, somehow."

"Perhaps your Souls have grown more perceptive with the absence of magic." It would explain the drastic reactions from the magically-attuned mortals of Earth to even tiny shifts in her mana, but it also went against the idea that normal mortals simply could not feel magic at all.

"Or perhaps they just don't know how to place the feeling," Aperio mumbled to herself. "I wish I could test this somehow."

"You could," Caethya said. "But I doubt you would want to ask unassuming mortals about magic tests, nor simply test things on them without their consent."

"You are correct," Aperio replied with more than a little annoyance. Sure, she could ignore her own principles, but that would not only be hypocrisy but an abuse of her power that she had told herself would not happen.

The All-Mother twitched her wings slightly and glanced at the mortal leading them. "Who are we going to meet? I can sense more than a few that would be interesting to talk to." Or fight, even if they are weak.

Her current theory was that they would compensate for their lack of power with clever techniques, but the only way to find out was to actually face them. Would they even want to have a bout with me? The ones that were magically sensitive would know without a doubt that they were hopelessly outclassed, but then again that had not stopped people in the past from making the attempt regardless.

"Mages," Eleanor replied with a smile, seemingly aware of the magic Aperio was using to keep their conversation quiet. "They are some of the more experienced ones that actually attend these gatherings. Most of them will probably ask you a million questions about whatever you use to keep the conversation private."

"I see," Aperio replied. "I am not sure I can adequately explain how I do anything, however."

"So far beyond our little mortal brains?" Ethan asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Yes," Aperio replied. "The way I use magic is not one any of you can imitate. You lack both power and familiarity." And probably attunement. I am magic, after all.

The mortal mage remained quiet at the words, simply nodding to herself as she continued towards an old tree near the centre of the rather expansive park. While the mortals that stood near it were not ones she would have considered approaching on her own, as she could see at least a dozen individuals that were more powerful, she would trust Eleanor's judgement. For now.

"I'm sure it would still be interesting for them," Caethya said with a slight giggle.

Aperio simply tilted her head and set her gaze onto the group they were approaching. A mortal that could not sense mana would think them just another group of friends attending the festivities, but Aperio could see and feel the magic - weak as it might be - flowing around them.

The first to notice their approach was a dark-skinned man. His eyes glinted with an unnatural green light for a moment as he looked at Aperio before his eyes settled on Eleanor and a smile spread across his face. Next to him, a woman gave him a questioning look, pushing some of her red locks out of her face while she asked the man something Aperio could not understand.

He laughed in response, the noise causing the third and final member to sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. Much like the first man, and unlike the woman that stood between them, he too had dark skin that only served to accentuate his milky white eyes that occasionally shone with magic.

Is he blind? Aperio thought to herself, but as she tilted her head to the other side the man with the milky eyes mirrored the motion. I guess not.

A small smile spread across the All-Mother's lips as she quickened her stride slightly, ignoring the grumble from Adam who had to, yet again, remove the amalgamation of Earth's Gods from something it found interesting. This might be fun.

///

Elder Wu let out a long breath as he lowered himself into his chair. While the thought had not come up during the meeting, he now had to consider the possibility that Aperio was part of the Old Blood; something he very much hoped was not the case. Which means she probably is.

They were mythical beings at best, but after what she had said, she certainly fit the bill. To claim the World's Voice as your creation… The worst part was that he somehow knew it was true. Every word the woman had spoken had resonated with truth in his very core; his essence.

"To have met the original ancestor of the Elves," he mumbled to himself before he pulled a small book from a drawer in his desk.

If Aperio was indeed the original Elf, one of the Primordials, rites would need to be observed. The lack of them was probably the reason she had been so annoyed at the meeting.

From Fae to Elf to Primordial, Elder Wu mused to himself as he opened the small book. Perhaps his latest assumption about the woman was also wrong, but it should be closer at least than anything else they had come up with before. But what would be beyond a Primordial?

Whenever one of them turned up in a story, they were always talked about as a deity of sorts. A force of nature that brought inevitable change. It was something Aperio said she would do, and her power and ability levels certainly seemed to back up her claims. The other things he had learned about the mythical beings also seemed to fit with her. Certainly felt like she had enough mana to help create a world…

He leafed through the book until he finally found the page he had been looking for. Merlin would not appreciate a call, but the situation warranted it. And he still owes me.

Elder Wu had been sitting on that particular favour ever since the British had tried to burn the mage for his practices sometime in the sixteen hundreds and the Vampire had smuggled him off to a remote estate in what was now Canada.

"The fuck you do want?" a decidedly female voice asked after the phone had only rung for a moment.

"Is that a way to greet an old friend?" Elder Wu asked, unphased by the fact that Merlin had gotten himself a new body again.

"It's a way to greet you," Merlin replied with a huff. "Now tell me what you want or I'll hang up."

"I need your help identifying someone. Well, their magic, really," he said. "I am not quite sure what they are, but I have my ideas."

Elder Wu smiled slightly as he heard the old mage groan on the other side of the phone, followed by string of curses and the sound of what he assumed was some form of glass breaking.

"You holding one of your meetings again in that backwater city?" Merlin asked after she took a deep breath.

"If you mean Riverburg, then yes. Though, it's not really that small anymore. Especially whenever we hold a council meeting. You would know that if you accepted any of the invites."

Merlin simply gave a huff in reply. "I have no interest in your little games."

Elder Wu could not help but sigh at the words. Getting Merlin to do anything that they did not come up with themselves was always an annoying task, though this time he had hoped that the mage would be at least somewhat inclined to cooperate without having to tell them what was at stake.

"The person in question might be a Primordial," he finally said. "And if they are not, they are something of equal strength. Every word she spoke reached my essence and rang true." He let out another sigh. "She also claims to have made the Voice, and has apparently come to fix it."

Silence reigned for a moment before Wu heard Merlin suck in a breath. "I will be there tomorrow if you get me a meeting with this mystery person."

"I will see what I can do," the Elder replied. "But you know that if she does not wish to, I will not be able to force her."

"Yes, yes. Just make it happen."

Wu heaved another sigh and leaned back in his chair. Maybe I should have saved that favour from Merlin after all. His other options included the mages of Zanzibar, but he was currently not inclined to pay their exorbitant fees or to offer them a favour. The last time he had done that, they had wanted him to cause some wars so they would have the opportunity to nab some specific people. He had done it, of course, but he had not liked it.

""Let's hope I can make that meeting happen," Elder Wu mumbled as he dialed the next number. "Twenty-four hours to go…"

///

Lita watched on as her own body pulled the straps of her leather armour tight before moving on to inspect her daggers. Ever since the ritual to remove the runes that had been engraved into her insides, she had been trapped as a sort of ghost tethered to her own body while what had once been the voice in her head had assumed control, doing what it wanted. Like claiming it's her body.

She wasn't really angry at her only quasi-friend, however. After all, she would have also wanted to experience the world if she had been trapped as a ghost for two and a half decades.

"What are you going to do?" Lita asked, moving her ethereal form closer to the table filled with weapons. "I hope you don't plan on killing Jester. He was always so nice to us."

The ex-voice gripped the daggers tighter, her fists trembling a little. "What he did was disgusting. He is disgusting!"

Lita pouted at the outburst but also did not comment on it. She had yet to learn the name of her friend and trying to convince her of Jester's generosity had turned out to be a bad way of getting to know her. For now she would have to hope that Jester would get to remain among the living. I also need to figure out how I can get a body of my own. He must be worried! I need to get back to him.

She nodded to herself as she watched her body place yet more weapons in pockets she had not noticed before. Waiting was the best course of action; the only course of action.

GamingWolf

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