Chapter 33: Creature of Magic

Chapter 33: Creature of Magic

Tala inhaled, long and slow once more, focusing on the power coming in with the air, as well as the power leaking into her lungs.

Eyes open, she exhaled, while willing the power to come together, compressing it into as small a point as possible as it left her mouth.

As soon as the magic left the inside of her body, she lost sway over it, and it attempted to come to equilibrium with the air around her.

There was a pop, and a minute flicker of light as the power dispersed.

Talas breath caught. That shouldnt be possible. Humans cant create magic without spell-lines. We can onlyShe gasped. Move power around within ourselves. Thats all that she had done. To be fair, only Immaterial Guides could manipulate power, freely, within themselves. Magic was, after all, Immaterial. Though Immaterial Creators cant make itOr can they? Id bet its like making gold, it takes more power than it gives benefit.

She returned her focus to what shed just done. The power had left her because it was in the air shed exhaled. She hadnt cast it forth as a spell.

She bent back over her notebook, recording what she had done and the result. Without a better way to describe the sound, she settled on: It creates a pop, which sounds like a cork shooting from a bottle, but heard through your chest. It was not a great description.

A world of very foolish ideas opened before her. Could I direct the power within my lungs into a kinetic force amplification form? The most likely outcome would be bursting her lungs from the inside, so she held off on that.

Tala had heard of Mages who treated their spells almost like breath-weapons, breathing out their spells. Barbaric shamans of the past would cut themselves and fling out spells. Shed always thought of both as strange, but what if they were each doing what she had just done? Creating spell-forms within themselves and then finding a way to send them forth.

She let out a barking laugh, realizing that someone, at some point in history, had likely tried to urinate spells. Assuming Im right

She then felt a bit of embarrassment at having thought of the shamans as barbaric. Spell-forms in blood is exactly how Ive been making my Archon star variantAnd how everyone checks for identification and certification, though, without the form.

She needed to test this. Gravity. I have the best grasp on that.

She picked up a pencil and held it in front of her. Then, she took a deep breath, quickly bringing to mind a very basic gravity spell-form. It simply would deny gravitys effects to an area.

She moved to impose the simple spell-form onto the power within her lungs.

It was much trickier than shed hoped.

The power fought her, seeming not to want to follow her guidance, and it didnt seem to want to flow as she expected, like trying to cut a hard, round herb with a dull knife. It kept slipping and sliding, and she could feel how dangerous it would be if it slipped fully from her grasp.

Her breath held, she bore down and forced it into shape, maintaining her mental construct both of the spell-form she was guiding the power through and the results the spell should accomplish.

She failed.

She let out a breath, the power popping violently within her mouth as she exhaled. It felt like someone had kicked her in the teeth from the inside.

Ow

She took a few calming breaths, focusing solely on using the correct pattern of inhalation and exhalation. To her surprise, she realized that the long, deep breath through her nose should be perfect for building the spell-form and adding power to it in a slow, controlled way, and the quick exhale would expel the magic quickly enough to make it useful for delivering concentrated spells.

This wouldnt work for a breath weapon. Id need a long, steady exhale for that How would that even work? Im not going to experiment with heat-forms. Not only were they not her expertise, thus not easy for her to picture and therefore enact, but she was also highly aware that generating magical heat in her own lungs was a recipe for disaster.

Anti-gravity, right. She was about to attempt it again when she heard a horse ride up beside her wagon.

Mistress Tala! What are you doing?

Tala turned and leaned to look over the side of the wagon, down on Trent. Master Trent?

Are you trying to get us killed? He seemed a bit flustered.

She frowned. What do you mean?

Are you sending out magical pulses?

She opened her mouth to say no, then stopped. Oh Um Possibly?

Trent closed his eyes, clearly steadying himself. Mistress Tala. We are trying to thread this pass without garnering the attention of anything unpleasant. Why by all that breathes would you be sending out magical pulses?! His voice was barely contained below shout.

I apologize, Master Trent. I did not think that what I was doing would be so obvious.

He pursed his lips. It felt like you were poking me between the eyes, even without my magic-sight active. Whatever you were doing created ripples in all the magic in the area.

Ohrust.

He took another calming breath. Thankfully, it seems to have gone unnoticed. Please-

A strange, chuff chuff sound echoed out of the pass and across the caravan. It was as if a bear were sniffing at the wind, if the bear in question was the size of a mountain.

Tala turned to look back at the pass, and her mage-sight immediately highlighted two differences.

First, the magic coming out of the pass was even stronger than before, seeming to be rippling out like waves before a boat. Second, a blazing source of power was dropping down the sheer face of one of the mountains, deep in the pass, directly into their path.

She turned back to look at Trent as he stared down the pass. Oh, childwhat have you done.

Tala stood, focusing down the pass once more, even while she was still unsteady on her feet. Not the best time to have balance issues

She swallowed involuntarily at what she saw, concerns over her balance temporarily forgotten.

Where the arcanous creatures and plants shed seen over the last few days had had magic in them, the beast striding their way was magic. Every fiber of its being inundated with power; a deep red aura underlay the magic she could see.

Though shed never dug deeply into the study of magical creatures, even she knew of the kind coming their way.

Trent called out. Mistress Tala!

The midnight foxs eyes turned to regard her, even as its antlers began the short process of charging for another raking lighting cascade.

There was no one between the fox and the caravan now, save the seemingly unconscious Renix.

Tala stared at the antlers, seeing the building power with all too much clarity.

TALA!

Her conscious mind frozen in horror; she acted on pure instinct; her right hand coming up as she extended her arm, palm out. Her first two fingers shook slightly as they extended towards the sky, the second two bending down. All four fingers and thumb were tucked close together.

She couldnt take her eyes from the antlers, and thus, as she locked onto her target, only the foxs antlers glowed blue to her sight.

No time to fix it. The lightning was about to be unleashed upon her.

Crush.

Unlike her restraining magic, there was no artistry, here, no calculations, no light touch. Her power seized the gravitational constant for the target and dumped power into increasing it.

The fox, sensing the incoming attack, seemed to activate the defensive fields of its horns, causing a glittering field to manifest across its form.

It didnt matter.

One golden ring blazed to light on the back of Talas outstretched hand, and the foxs head dipped slightly, the effective weight of the antlers quadrupling.

The lightning, it seemed, couldnt be released through the foxs own barrier, so the power still radiated in those metallic points.

Another golden ring blazed with power on the back of Talas upraised hand, before vanishing alongside the first.

The foxs head dropped to the ground as the antlers quadrupled in weight, again.

The animal let out a furious snarl.

A third golden ring flashed away in a blaze of power, and fox began to try to scramble backwards, causing the antlers to unbalance and slam into the ground to the side. It was dragging its head across the soil, the antlers digging trenches. They might have broken off, but the fox's magical defensive field seemed to be protecting them.

A fourth golden circle triggered and the antlers, now two hundred and fifty-six times as heavy, cracked free from the foxs skull.

POWER. Overwhelming, all-consuming power blossomed from the sharp tips, seeking to destroy. The foxs defenses were strong, however, and that power couldnt strike outward through its magical field. Instead, lightning tore through the creature in a brilliant blaze that briefly outshone the sun.

Tala turned away, stumbling as she twisted to shield her eyes, and she sat hard bruising her backside with the awkward landing.

She groaned rubbing her eyes to clear them before turning back towards the midnight fox.

There was no fox left to see.

Her mage-sight allowed her to perceive the remnants of the animals protective shield, just then fading away, allowing a laughably small dusting of ash to fall to the ground.

The midnight fox had been obliterated, entirely, by its own magic.

Tala looked at the back of her hand. Four. It took four rings, and even then, it only worked by happenstance.

Her fear had locked her concentration on the antlers alone, instead of the fox as a whole. One ring should have been enough to slay the beast outright, as most creatures are not structured to keep blood flowing when the blood was four times as heavy, and they will usually drop into unconsciousness almost immediately due to shock, to die shortly thereafter.

Still, shed had a failsafe built in so that when she came across a particularly resilient enemy, the magics would ramp up until death was inevitable. That had both saved her, today, and cost her. Three castingswasted. Her inability to overcome her momentary panic had cost her not only the inscriptions, but the manner of victory had eliminated any possibility of harvesting.

It was the worst sort of victory; the only consolation was that it had been a victory.

She tried to pull herself out of her self-deprecating musings, and as she did so she saw the earthen dome crumble away, Atrexia quickly taking in the remains of the battle.

Trent was already running towards Renix, and Tala found that Den was already beside the mageling, carefully shifting the mans body to a more natural, prone position.

Atrexia didnt run, but she did take up a quick pace as she returned to the caravan, herself.

Tala unsteadily climbed down the wagon and met Trent beside Renix.

The Mage took in his magelings state with a careful inspection and sighed. The young man was breathing, though clearly in a lot of pain, even while unconscious.

Trent looked up at Tala and smiled. Thank you, Mistress Tala. That would have been He shook his head. Thank you.

Tala tried to smile in return but felt sick. I failed. She felt like someone who had bludgeoned an attacker to death with a sword, still in its scabbard. Sure, the threat was gone, but she was a clumsy oaf, alive more from luck than anything else.

When she didnt reply, Trent stood from beside Renix and stepped around to her. Hey? Are you alright?

Atrexia arrived and immediately attended to Renix, not giving Tala a second glance. Even so, Tala turned away, so that the other woman wouldnt see the tear, which had escaped one eye. Ill Ill be fine.

Trent caught her up in a hug. Thank you, Mistress Tala. No matter what, thank you. I might have been able to protect the caravan, but there was no easy endgame in that fight, after it knocked Renix away. Thank you.

Tala hesitantly hugged him in return, silently nodding against his chest, before he let her go.

Go, see if the cooks will get you some food. Well help Renix back to our wagon and be on the move again, soon.

Tala nodded again and strode away in silence, Trent continuing to block her from Atrexias sight.