A Better Understanding [closed, contains Nightmare Plot oddness]
Aeneas the blue-striped alien was looking decidedly confident as he marched towards the bright pink bus parked in the City. Well, for somebody who should be suffering from the afflictions of recent dreams, of social reclusion, of mild depression…
But that was just the thing, wasn’t it? Aeneas didn’t suffer from any of those things-rather, he ( Read more... )
Matt curled more water and bent it into several shapes as he held it between his palms. "You see Aeneas, there's a distinct level of power in between those who are naturally gifted and those who are powerful enough to move mountains on their first try. But those kinds of skill are granted to someone, not learned gradually."
"In terms of pure ability, you've connected extremely well with your magical force, I can sense it. I think a green muppet said it best when you take it into context: Do. Or Do Not. There is no Try." added Matt as he sent the water ball. "Magic is focused on three primary tenants: Belief, Magical Strength and Heart. Or as I like to call it Body, Mind and Soul."
"The body, houses the power," said Matt, thumping his chest. "The clarity of inner and physical strength aids your well-being. It's something a lot of mages lack being physically frail in the old days from years of study and no fresh air. At the body level, simple incantations and kinesis of all kinds are available to you."
"The mind, is the second level of power. A clear focused mind even during in times of strength. Anxiety, fear, anger, explosive rage, all of that affects your performance in the mind level. But at the mind level high level spell incantations are available, as well as stronger and wilder battle techniques. A clarity of mind and a strong body aids in this."
"And finally the Soul level. The soul connects directly to the source of your powers, your magical field. At the soul, you're instinctively using magic, react and form. All of the above applies to the soul, and even wordless incantations are available, plus all the kineses. Make sense?"
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Now everything Matt had told him he could understand, to a degree. It all felt like a lesson one of the village elders in Aephos would give to the young Awesonians during public teachings (or, as the humans might call it, ‘school’). Aeneas had attended plenty of these in his spare time on Walrum, yet he’d never really taken what they said seriously; to him, they were all elaborate stories to outline essential morals and laws, and far from the truth.
And there was that faith thing coming up again…
Despite his indecision, Aeneas nodded the affirmative.
“Yes, but-“ A different question was in order here. “-You mentioned unspoken incantations. Are…are there many important spoken ones?”
This might become a fundamental problem-not because Aeneas wasn’t good at learning languages, as he assumed the incantations were, but because of actual anatomical differences. Though the humans might have gotten used to Stacy’s translating system, this creature’s vocal capabilities were far from what was required to speak anything even remotely resembling one of their tongues.
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Picking up a drumstick, he held it loosely in his hand. "The five fundimental forces of Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Energy have very basic commands to them. For example, you have... FLOAT."
And automatically, the drumstick floated a few inches above his palm.
"SPIN. UP. DOWN. PUSH." On cue, the drumstick reacted in the appropriate manner and Matt snagged it out of the air. "Simple Power Words can be whatever you desire, as long as there's magic behind the command. Mages from other lands use keywords at times, to unlock their magic like a key being turned in a lock. And the more time you spend in an incantation, the better you're well off to focus the power. Lemme demonstrate that."
Putting the drumstick down, Matt aimed a hand towards the nearest portal of water and the fish scattered. "Break Asunder. O spirits of the water, power infinite, force beyond control, gather in my hand and come and throttle my enemy!"
Magical power spun and coalesced into his hand, wrapping around his arm and Matt thrust it forward. "ICE NEEDLES!"
Half a dozen icicles lanced out and thrust its way into the water, vanishing into the liquid depths. "Now that's a bit flashy, so I just do this."
Tracing a pattern into the air, magic spun into a glyph and he threw his hand out again. "FIREBOLT!"
A hot liquid ball of flames exploded outwards and impacted the water, hissing as it did so. "Low level firebolt. You'll find that magic is very generic and pretty much every world you go to has some variant of the same spells over and over."
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“So words are essentially for focusing power, yes?” he blinked, “And language is not an issue?”
He naturally assumed that the fancy introduction Matt gave the ‘water spirits’ before his ice needle demonstration was purely cosmetic, and not needed for harnessing his own abilities. I mean, why ask some outside spirit’s permission before using power that was drawn from inside the body?…
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"It's how I can get away with silly stuff like proclaiming Super Duper Pink Wall of Power and actually throw up a pink wall of magic. Words become meaningless after a while and intent works out. Like this spell. It's usually called Lightning Blast."
Matt thrust out his hand and lightning crackled across the room, the sharp tang of ozone from the quick ionization of the air around them as it leaped ten feet before sputtering out. "See? Intent. Point and shoot and MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA if you must."
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“Power Words and Intent. Understood.” And then Aeneas got a good whiff of ozone along with the distinctive smell of Matt’s beverage, which brought up another puzzling inquiry.
“…I notice that you are able to harness most of the elements,” the alien observed, absently dragging his back foot through the nearby pool, “Are most magic-users able to do so at a certain point in their training?”
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Matt held out his hands and as he spoke, his fingertips lit up with various elements. On his thumbs, sand spun around it and a leaf appeared. "Earth is directly opposed to Wood magic. While that sounds weird with the Nature thing going on, it's also the best mesh of skills and powers one can have. People in Earth magic are solid, rooted, practical, giving and nurturing."
His index fingers lit into Fire and the other crackled with Lightning. "Fire and Lightning too are directly opposed, but similar to Earth, mesh well together. Fire is hot, life giving, a warmth and heat, and lightning is strong, powerful, chaotic and wild. But when lightning strikes, fire is made."
His middle fingers lit up as well, joining the magic dancing on Matt's fingers; a swirl of water and a ice shard. "Ice and Water, also opposed. When one freezes, it becomes ice, and when it thaws, it becomes water. Water types are healers, nurturing, but also a strong powerful wave of force. They are also strong, resilient, but requires support from others. They also come with a pre-load of super snark."
His fourth fingers lit up,a twist of visible air and a ball of violet light. "Air and Gravity. Air is the ultimate wall of force one can muster up. It is free, unchecked of it's powerful force of Gravity which pulls down, weights on the heart. Air people are optimistic, free dreamers and radical thinkers. Gravity is the power that weighs them to reality when things get tough, but their affinity keeps them from becoming upset for too long."
"And finally, Energy and Flare, or as I like to call it Quintessence and Flare." His pinkies flashed to life. Quintessence was a flashing energy, swapping from a pink ball of energy to crackling blue lightning, while Flare was a terrible angry red color that reminded Matt of hot coals. "Quintessence is the Life Energy, and is most commonly mistaken as Lightning. But you can do many things with Quintesence, and this is where the moniker of "spellcasting" comes from. Ironically, the most powerful healing spells come from Quintessence, as well as the strongest damaging force which can bind or negate other Quintessence-animated spells and constructs. Flare is it's polar opposite. Like the heat from the sun, it's pure plasma, the incinerating force. With Flare, you wield the power of the atoms at your disposal, able to destroy and reshape, much like the tales of Alchemy."
"When a mage learns spells, they first learn their affinity, and then they learn the easiest to learn from their affinities. And of course, the five primary powers are also directly opposed to each other. I'd imagine you'd have difficulty casting Fire spells because of your powerful Water innate, but have an easier time with air and Quintessence. Earth shares many traits with Fire, so it too will be difficult to master those abilities."
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”Alchemy…”
Yes, Alchemy. It was something that the good Doctor Palor Drake was obsessed with at a young age, and something he often ranted about when he cared for Aeneas during the first few months of his recovery. To be able to control the very atoms that composed all matter in the universe and meld them at will…it was a daunting task, clearly impossible with any technology Drake could fathom, but he still dreamt of it. Oh, if he ever woke up-if he had even been saved in the first place-imagine his happiness should Aeneas meld thin air into gold! And the alien would introduce Drake to Matt and Will, and he would study their abilities with Stacy’s advanced lab equipment, and then he would finally create a device that could mimic their powers and accomplish his childhood dream…
Aeneas abruptly snapped out of his daze when he felt a sudden draining of newfound power escaping through his foot. Dragging his limb out of the water had left a few droplets suspended in the air longer than they should’ve been before rejoining their molecularly polar brethren.
He was still gazing at the pool. “How…how long would it take one to learn a second element?”
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"The mental disciplines are usually easy to focus on with a single element first, but in time, you'll be able to try the very basic spells in the first five elements. If you want, I can also find the practice wands and see if you can give it a try. I also should be able to find a beginners textbook in Taranee's room too."
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…No, no. Aeneas had to be patient. He’d waited longer for more important things; he was still waiting for his blocked memories to show up, after all. Not much else could trump that in the patience department. Until then, Aeneas resolved himself to learn what magic he could and to master it as well as time allotted-not for himself. He had to remind himself of that. This was, front and foremost, for Matt and the other magic users’ sakes.
’Cause if you can’t beat ‘em…
“I will learn at whatever pace you decide is most beneficial,” the alien blinked a concerned smile onto his brow, “I do not wish to stress either of us, especially yourself.”
He was going to kick himself for asking this.
“It is the dreams, is it not? You look exhausted.”
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He eyed Aeneas and swore he could see double. "... you don't mind if I stagger past you bud and return us to the main hall? I'm about ready to collapse and my caffeine rush has completely died on me. I'll set you up with textbooks and practical exercises first before I pass out."
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“…Yes, the textbooks,” Aeneas nodded, thinking of a good way to express this, “I can get Will to bring them to me later. Do you need to go down to Medbay?”
Hello, new topic!
“And I do not mean for just rest. Do you know of Doctor Jean Grey? She is telepathic-perhaps she can help protect you while you get some proper sleep? I can escort you.”
For once, Aeneas wasn’t budging. It wasn’t a demanding request, at least not in the way the alien had phrased it, but it was still one that he was ready to enforce with persistent nudges and steering.
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He chuckled mirthlessly. "I've got my psychic shielding to max already. But the lack of sleep has played hell with my sanity. I think I've just dipped under the MSR of function right now. That's Minimal Sanity Requirement by the way. Once I'm coherent enough I can seek out Dr. Grey and get her to reinforce my shields."
It wasn't like Matt appreciated the gesture, he was touched and he could feel the worry pouring off Aeneas. He was justifiably concerned for his friend and Matt had to agree that going to Dr. Grey would probably help with his magic-based shields.
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“Then we can go there later,” he purred firmly (if it was possible for a purr to sound ‘firm’), placing a webbed hand on Matt’s back to steer him towards a proper sleeping surface, “You need to get actual rest before your body makes you. I will stay nearby and make sure to wake you if you show signs of the Nightmare King’s manipulation.”
Because a short nap broken by a bad dream was better than no nap at all.
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The door swished open to his room, where his guitar and several sets of clothing lay. Rein's bag was to the side and the young man faceplanted abruptly into the bed.
With a muffled groan, Matt proclaimed "I can't feel my legs. Hoist my lower half into bed bud?"
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“You have gotten yourself into one mess,” he rumbled under his breath, carefully rolling his friend onto the plushy bed. Aeneas’s undersized arms were just as weak as they looked-and Matt was more muscular than he was expecting-so this was no easy task.
“Now sleep. I’ll stay here.”
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