《Novos Hitchhiker》


 Prologue

    Nothing.


    I try to look up and nothing changes. I try to look down and nothing changes. Nothing to the left or right. Am I even moving? I have no arms or legs or body even. There''s absolutely nothing around me. No light, color, or even darkness. You are probably wondering how can there not be darkness without any light? Well you got me there. This is like trying to explain color to a blind person. There''s just nothing. Well, let''s call it static instead. Like the fuzzy colorful pixel images that used to be on the television when in between channels. That''s probably the best way to describe this.


    Of course this is scary as all hell. I can''t even figure out if I''m floating, flying, or falling. There''s no wind, so I suppose I''m stationary. But I can''t really feel anything. Like being stuck in the endless expanse of space, not being able to turn around to see if you are even within range of a star, you just see in one direction. You have no idea if you''re moving or not. There''s really nothing to do in this kind of situation except hope for some kind of change.


    All of this is new, yet for some reason I get the sneaking suspicion that I''ve been here before. But that can''t be right. I was born on Earth, lived a useless life like all humans... did I die? I don''t remember clearly. The last thing I remember was reading web novels in bed and now, nothing. Did a nuclear war start while I was in bed or something? Oh well, the web novel I was reading was terrible anyway. No regrets.


    Okay, so now I believe I might be dead. Now what? Is a god supposed to show up and guide me to the afterlife or something? Do I get to decide to reincarnate? Years of reading reincarnation web novels has gotten me excited. But of course I know magic is a scientific impossibility, at least in the universe Earth resided in. Wait, will I even remember my memories on Earth if I reincarnate? If that happens I won''t be able to marvel at magic as much! It will be like growing up with electricity. It just becomes so normal that you don''t think about the intricacies of it all and marvel at how it works. Not that I know how it works. I was not a smart... man? Woman? What the hell? How in the ever-loving fuck did I forget my sex?


    Okay... okay... think think think. There has to be some clue in my memories that will tell me what I am. Okay, memories. Anything with a mirror! Ah, there''s one. Aaaaand, everything reflected is a blur. Ooookay. Um, school! Maybe I lived in a country that had a school dress code. WAIT! Why are two memories overlapping? I''m in two different rooms of completely different layout and decor and on the door are two uniforms overlapped. One is a blazer with a skirt and the other a dress shirt and pants. That... can''t be right. My memories of myself are blurred. Any identifiable article is overlapped by at least one other and sometimes more. Some of the oldest seem to be like this really frilly Victorian dress overlapped by a French soldier''s uniform.


    Wait, mother! A picture of my mother has to be somewhere in my memories! I had to have had one mother! If only that will be a foundation for my memories, I don''t care!


    Wait, why is she so blurry? I see a figure reflected in my eye as obviously my mother, but all of her features are blurred. Her eyes aren''t any definite shape, her mouth is blurred all around, and her face''s shape isn''t solid. No... that... This is my mother. No. Mothers. All blurred together into one memory. I recognized all as a mother I once, and still do, love with all my heart. But...


    I''ve reincarnated before. This is all I can conclude from this delving into my memory. I''ve reincarnated innumerable times, yet for some reason that fact never stuck with me between lives. Everything sort of blended together in my mind. Like a tape recorder recording over an old cassette. Only now that I can see, from the outside in, do I see every part of the tape that has been recorded over. How many lives have I lived? How many times had I died? Is this normal? Sitting in this blank space of static to reminisce on what I left behind and wait for the next life? I... think I can do that. I''ve lost so much in my lives that if I am going to forget them again, I might as well look upon these memories again with some sort of reverence.


    My last life, I was able to easily distinguish. Yet there is nothing worth reminiscing about here. I was working a dead-end job with nothing to look forward to but the next video game or the next chapter of a manga to read. My parents were dead and I was at a point in my life where I just didn''t care to get ahead as long as I had food, shelter, a computer, and extra money for video games. I was content. But this was no way to live. I''ve lived other lives far more interesting than this.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The life before this, I died from street violence as a child. Pass.


    I was still a student in the life before this. Death by suicide... Fuck I am not a very happy person am I? I don''t get this life. I was cute, wasn''t I? Someone worth getting along with and talking to in school? The memories of the emotions are a blur, mixed with other lives so I can''t discern the individual thoughts. Perhaps I should just leave this life alone. It''s what I probably would have wanted. Sorry, momma and papa.


    Oh here''s an older one. Still a young death though. But comparatively, I lived longer than the other three. At least I had a lover and children in this life before disease got me.


    The one before this I died in a war. Let''s pass over this one like the suicide.


    Buuuh, this is more depressing than anything. I was hoping maybe I lived a nice long modern life full of achievements. But I keep dying too young for that. I get the feeling all of my previous lives will turn out the same. Am I some victim of karma or something? Did my first life piss off a voodoo priest? I don''t know if I want to reincarnate now if a short life is all I can look forward to.


    Heeeeey, who''s in here? I want to speak to your manager! Puh. Why haven''t I reincarnated yet? Sure I might not like to now, but it has to be better than floating around in this static thinking about my depressing lives. Just let me forget them again and move on to the next miserable existence. Maybe I''ll try to paralyze myself. At least then the hospital should keep me alive longer. Then I could pick up chess and become a grandmaster! I''ve always wanted to be good at chess, but I never picked it up. Too many distractions.


    Maybe I got to think about it? Me soul, want be born on Earth. Think think think Earth. Blue planet, white sun, seven continents, well six if you merge Asia and Europe together like you''re supposed to. And five if you don''t count Antarctica because if you remove all the ice it''s just a bunch of little islands. Damn, my last life was pathetic, but I still picked up a lot of useless knowledge.


    Hmm, this isn''t working. How long have I been in here anyway? There''s nothing to reference time with in here. I could have been floating here for hours or years for all I know. Do I even need to reincarnate as a human? I could try to reincarnate as a character in one of my web novels. If the multiverse theory is correct, I''ll eventually hit one where I can reincarnate as Rudeus Greyrat. That''s probably pushing it though. I know magic isn''t real and trying to find a universe where it is real could be pushing it.


    BUT, I''ve got nothing better to do. Living as a character like that would be bad, though. If I try to avoid a bad circumstance that had to happen in order for the plot to advance a certain way, I could cause the whole story to change, and not for the better. I make one mistake, the story doesn''t go as planned and who knows, I could end up having one of his love interests kill me. I should try to think up my own magic world life so I''m not messed up by spoilers.


    First of all, the planet. A planet like Earth would be nice. Full seven continents to explore. I would like to explore space, but I''ll save that for my next life. If I never reincarnate again, I want to at least have a magic fantasy adventure life.


    So, seven continents. Maybe a bunch of difference species, too. Humans for sure, but then you can have the elves. Magicky species of humanoids that look down their nose at everything. Then their opposites, the demons. Horns on their heads, some odd colored skin, and tails. Where elves are the best magicky race, I want the demons to be the strongest physically. Then I will flush out the rest of the world with bestial humanoids like snake people, wolf people, cat, and fox people and stuff. Then fill the world full of monsters and stuff to fight! And magic, of course. But the magic needs to be something different instead of just the obvious elemental stuff. Spacial magic! Magic powered by the stars!


    Sigh. Now I''m starting to lose my mind. Do I have to sit here for an eternity before I am finally given another life? Or is this it? Was that my last life and this nothingness void is the afterlife? Was Earth destroyed for real? I was just joking before, don''t tell me they actually blew it up! Fuuuuuuuck! Are there other people out here, too? Or was I the only one? SOMEONE FUCKING ANSWER ME GOD DAAAAMN IT! ANSWER MEEEEEEEeeee...


    ...


    ...


    I wonder how far back my lives go... Might be a way to distract myself from the infinity of this void. I wish I had hands and paper to write down information about these lives so I don''t forget. Not that it matters, really. Ahhh, infinity is a cruel mistress~

 Chapter 1

    Wait, huh? Black? What happened to the static? Wasn''t I just in a void of static nothingness? Now everything is dark! Black! Darkness! Oh how I missed the dark! I will never be afraid of you ever again! I wish I could kiss this blackness! So what does this mean now? Does this mean I''ve been reincarnated and I''m in my new mother''s womb? But wait, when did the static turn to blackness? I wasn''t even paying attention. I was caught up in the memory of my time in the 1700s as a young child about to die of typhus, I think. That was not fun.


    So, darkness now. Does that mean I have a body now? Let''s see... can I open my eyes? Eyes, OPEN!


    Ooooh, I have eyelids?! That''s a good start! Oh wait, am I looking up at a ceiling? It''s hard to see, but the ceiling looks to have a sort of grain to it. Like it''s made of straw. A thatch roof? Seriously? Did I go back in time or something?


    I turn by head, long hair falls over my eyes. I''m not a baby at least. Looking down at my body, I see I am not covered in a blanket or anything. I''m simply wearing a cloth nightgown. So I was reborn as a girl. But I wasn''t born. I usually remember being born, don''t I? No wait, now that I think on it, I don''t. I don''t remember a single time where I was a baby or toddler. Not even dying as one at birth. Thinking back throughout history, there should have been a lot of those. I do remember dying young though, but never too young. I guess the personality and soul don''t develop in a body until a few years after birth. At least that explains the gaps in years I couldn''t account for between some lives.


    Okay, hold on. Why do I remember my previous lives? I don''t remember knowing I was reincarnated. I never acted in a way that demonstrated I had retained memories from a previous life in any of my lives. So why now? Is this body special or is it because I spent so long in the static recalling previous lives?


    Let''s see... arms, check, legs, check. Come on, sit up. Muscles, move! Why is this body so sluggish? And my eyes are only halfway open. Come onnn, moooove, collapse. This new body is so weak. I don''t remember ever being so weak. Well, I did just wake up. Maybe if I can roll off the bed I can move around a bit? It''s still dark outside the window. Hm, a nice glass window framed in stone. All of the walls are made of stone, too.


    Alright, time to rooooooooll... I turn slowly in bed. I feel the furs that make up the cushion on the bed rub against the skin of my arm. My body is coated in a thin film of sweat that stuck the nightgown to my body. I rolled again and finally fell out of bed. I hit my head hard on the dusty stone floor and lost vision. Everything went dark. Seriously? I knocked myself out by falling out of bed? Am I that weak or is the gravity really that strong here? Well, I am just a child. Hopefully nothing broke, my mother will find me, and tend to my injury. Ahh, for now let me just. Hold on, if I am knocked out, how am I still conscious?


    Focus... focus... Eyes, find the eyes again and open them! Wait, they''re already open? My vision is clouded with tears, but I think I''m sitting on the floor crying. Ears... why can''t I hear anything... There!


    "-aaaaaaaaaah... Guaaaaaaaaah" I''m crying by myself? Shouldn''t I have control over that? I noticed something move. Someone opened the clay door and is walking over to me. She lifted me up effortlessly and sat on the edge of the bed with me on her knee.


    She started rubbing my head and whispered soft words to me. Yes, this must be my mother. She was wearing a similar nightgown. It was hard to see since it was so dark in the room, but I swear I can see through the cloth. She''s not wearing a bra! Mother! Have some modesty in front of your little girl! I hope in the very least you''re wearing underwear or a loin cloth under that. Are my clothes just as sheer is that? I can''t control the body anymore, or I would check. I hope this is just lounging wear and I wasn''t born into a culture that doesn''t wear tops. I will kill myself if I did. I swear. I have to have standards!


    With my eyes slowly starting to clear up, I can see Mother''s image clearer. Beautiful green eyes bore into me. And silky, albeit a little messy from bed head, black hair trailed from her head. I can''t see much more because of the low light level, but I suspect she''s quite pretty. And she looks young, her face still bears the slight roundedness of youth. I hope she doesn''t use her looks to make a living. Some of my mothers in the past have been prostitutes and it always tore me up inside. They would always try to keep that part of themselves hidden from me, but I always found out eventually. Don''t get me wrong, I still loved them, but it was hard to be around them when they came home in the early hours of the morning smelling like sweat and spent tissues. I won''t go into any more detail for everyone''s sake.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    My body hugged Mother and buried my head in her chest. I could feel the soft hands rubbing by back and head tenderly. Slowly my eyes started to droop and close. I fell asleep in her arms. I could still feel her comforting me. Like it was more comfort for her than it was for me at this point. I''ve had those kind of mothers before. Where father either died or I was the child of a mistress and couldn''t see my father. I was all that she had left. Huh, I even had fathers like that where mother died in childbirth and I was all they had of her. Times without photography and too poor for paintings. I wonder what I am for her.


    She gently picked me up and placed me back onto the furs. I heard the clay door open and close along with the patting of her bare feet on the stone floor. Either I have been born in a very post-apocalyptic Earth or this is another world. With everything made of stone, I suspect we must live in a very warm and barren place. Ahh, that might explain the sheer clothing and the sweat. I couldn''t feel the temperature right now though. It was weird. So far I''ve felt like I''ve only had partial control over my body. Like there was something else here fighting me. That doesn''t bode well.


    I''m going to relinquish control of the body for now. But I don''t exactly feel tired enough to try to sleep. I wonder if I can somehow tap into the memories of this body and figure out where I stand here. I know I have never done something like this before, but this is an extraordinary circumstance. I will try to stay out of the subconscious for now. That''s probably where I will meet the opponent in control of this body. It''s probably dreaming. I don''t want to have to fight for control of the body if I don''t have to. So I need to soak up knowledge and fast.


    The body''s name is Celestine. Or, that''s as close to English as I can convert it. Mother calls her Tina for short. She hasn''t completely grasped the language either. No family name, so she and her mother are likely peasants. She''s young. From what I can tell, she''s only had two birthdays so far and they were FAR apart. I''ll come back to that in a bit. I found a memory of her looking at her reflection in a piece of polished metal recently. She''s got the same black hair as her mother, but unfortunately lacks her bright green eyes. She has vibrant brown eyes instead. And thankfully the sleepwear is not standard public clothing. It''s just very light fabric because it is hot where they live and it''s both uncomfortable to sleep in anything thicker and to sleep nude because of the furs that make up the bedding causing rash and itch when they rub on bare skin. The daily clothing isn''t exactly modest, though. It''s not uncommon for men to walk around topless with nothing but leather or fiber shorts. At least the women cover their chests. Mother dresses up Celestine in a simple spaghetti-strap sun dress with a straw hat wide enough to protect her shoulders. Mother, and most of the other women in town I assume, wear something akin to a peach bikini-shaped bra that is just thick enough to not show off the goods when they sweat. Over top this they wear pretty much anything from a sheer fabric top paired with a white opaque skirt or just simply pants like the men and nothing but the bra. As long as things are covered, no one really seems to mind. No black clothing though. Everything is either white, peach, tan, or leather.


    Celestine has never been outside their city. But from the sweltering heat and the lack of anything green, I am guessing they live in a desert. Hence why the buildings are made of stone and thatch. No reason for anything elaborate like clay tiles to be made when it rarely rains. No trees but what can be imported for the richer inhabitants. And no buildings are made of just straight wood. That''s a fire hazard in the desert.


    I''ve been sitting here trying to piece together the world from her memories. Things are sporadic because she is just a child. But I believe the year is well over 365 days. The sun is also bright white in the sky. This planet''s star must be both larger, hotter, and younger compared to Earth''s sun for the year to be so much longer and still support life. I have more questions about the nature of this world, but those will have to wait. Celestine''s memory is too limited. She''s two of this world''s years old. That much I know for sure. I am also grasping their language a bit, but we don''t know enough to actually speak it fluently. She knows words, a fraction of the grammar, and the inflections. She''s illiterate, though. I don''t even know if this language has a writing system. It all depends on how advanced they are. I''ll keep observing and trying to control the new body. I need to keep my presence on the down low, though. Maybe I can introduce myself to the other soul in the body as an imaginary friend. That might help me establish a relationship with her and it would be good to work together. For now, though, I will be silent.

 Chapter 2

    Day one. The body woke up and the girl is going about her morning, though she is rubbing the bump on her head occasionally as well. I''m not apologizing. You can''t make me. Celestine starts her day by rubbing her body off of all the sticky sweat that accumulated during the night with a cloth. She tries to do it all herself, but Mother ends up scraping off her back. How do they even get water here anyway? From the memories, this city is a decent size. Not as big as a city on Earth, but larger than a few farmers, hunters, and fishermen could reasonably supply. I think they do a lot of importing. From where, I don''t know. The city isn''t by a lake, river, or ocean, so it confuses me. Can''t ask Mother about that without alerting the other soul, so I will stay quiet and only voice my questions internally.


    Celestine and Mother eat a simple breakfast of hard tack and fish. We really are poor, aren''t we Mother?


    While eating I try to tap into the taste buds like I already have with sight and sound. I accidentally end up taking full control of the tongue and she ends up biting it. Ouch! Little devil! Oh, you''re crying now. Not apologizing.


    After breakfast, Mother dresses up Celestine in her sundress and hat while she wears her underwear, bra, a simple cloth top that doesn''t cover her belly, and a skirt that drops over her knees. The fashion sense is non-existent. More necessity than anything. I hope we can move to a more temperate region one of these days so we can actually wear some decent clothes. You look like a prostitute, Mother. But I will forgive you because of the circumstances. Better to go out dressed half-naked than die of heat exposure. I wonder how hot it really is outside anyway. That was something Celestine''s memories didn''t exactly take note of. When you live in nothing but heat, you don''t know how to compare it to the cooler temperatures. Touch is the next sense I need to master. I tap into her mind to gleam the experience from her and my heart died a little.


    IT''S SOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOT. OH MY GAAAAWD. It has to be at least 120 degrees here. Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to build a city here and why the hell did you think it was a good idea to raise a child here, Mother?! I know everyone has their own circumstances, but even the Arabian cities I lived in when I was on Earth were cooler than this! If the founder is still alive, I want to stomp on their foot! I can already feel the sweat forcing the sundress to cling to my body.


    "Tina, dear." Mother said beside me. The body turns to face her through the mop that had become of the hair. Mother places an odd contraption up to Celestine''s mouth. "Drink." Mother spoke in simple words that Celestine could understand. She seemed to be familiar with this device, too. It looked like a marble with a few wires and a bowl attached to the bottom of it under the marble. The marble bit was pressed to Celestine''s lips. She obediently sucked on the marble and could feel a chill liquid with no taste drizzle down her throat. Water. Water?! From the marble? The more she sucked on it, the less sticky she felt. The drier her dress became and her hair was no longer stuck fast to her head. Mother casually pulled it back behind her ears while still holding the contraption to her lips. When no more water would come out, Celestine stopped, pulled back, and I saw the marble drop a white powder out from its base and into the bowl. Mother did the same and even more powder dropped into the bowl. Did... what did I just witness?


    Mother nodded and folded up the contraption that makes water and a white powder from sucking on it, then we left the house to go on various errands. Celestine happily humming while holding Mother''s hand while I am sitting in the back of my mind trying to figure out what I just experienced. My only conclusion is magic. Some kind of magic apparatus that pulls the sweat off the body, separates the water from the sweat, cools it, and lets you drink it back into your body to replenish your supply of water while saving the minerals from the sweat, mostly salt, for later use.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The first place they visited was something that reminded me of a bank. There was a stone counter behind metal bars that people were exchanging money with and either not obviously buying anything or selling anything. The building was cooler than the house and outside, so Celestine was able to relax a little. She casually gripped the hem of her dress and fanned her sweaty legs, earning her a bop on the head from Mother''s knuckle.


    The line didn''t last too long. Can''t say the same for many of Earth''s banks, so they must be doing something right here. When we got to the desk, Mother greeted the teller, "Good morning, @^%$#."


    "Morning, Syl$#^#. Taking out %$#%$#@''s @^%@$# #$^@@%$ #$@@@ today?"


    "That time of the !^%$@^." Mother replied, a mischievous grin on her face. A lot of what Celestine could make out didn''t make much sense without the other words to add to the context. Something about it was obviously never explained to her. I couldn''t make out names or words, so I didn''t bother trying.


    The teller had Mother press a crystal she took from her small leather purse into a stone slab. It lit up briefly before the teller turned to goto the back room. She returned with a small, what appeared to be burlap, bag of jangling metal that I assumed was money. But Celestine had no memory at all of Mother leaving or doing any work at home for money. What did you do to earn that, Mother?


    "You helping your momma today, little Celestine?" The teller asked, looking down at us.


    "Yeees!" Celestine chirped back loudly with a huge smile on her face.


    The teller laughed softly while Mother was looking in the bag and was counting the contents, I assume. When she was satisfied she tightened the twine draw string and stuffed it in her leather purse.


    "Let''s go, baby." She said, patted our head and we were about to go when the teller spoke up again.


    "Has he @#^%# for your %#^%$#& yet, Syl$#^#? That''s where you''re going, right? Just make him pay for it. Save you a little #$@^%%$ each #@^##."


    "The less I have to #$### with him the better. That''s why I come here and not to his $@#%^$#^@. If I have him pay for #^%#% then the more I @$@$# him." Mother replied, her brow twitching in agitation.


    "You know he''s more than $#^@#^@ to pay. Just @^#$## about Celestine''s ^$#@^&@@$."


    "I don''t need your !$^@%^@$$, @^%$@$." She was getting angry now. "I know what''s @^#%$# for Celestine. If ever I need to @^%#%$# at his #@^%$#%$, I will only for her. But that day IS NOT TODAY."


    "Okay, okay, #$@^$#@ I said anything. @@%$@#$ it, okay? No hard @^@#$@? But if you ever need more #@^@$, just ask. We can @^%$##$ him for you. @$^%$^*$ it my @$^@%^#$."


    "I''ll keep that in mind." And with that odd exchange, we left to complete the various errands.


    The first place we visited was the tallest building in the city, I think. It''s kind of hard to tell if it''s the tallest when you''re waist-high. Mother and I walked inside and Celestine''s eyes were glued on the various tapestries hanging on the walls. I was more interested in the giant glowing crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling on thin wires. The entire circular auditorium room was illuminated in a blue hue. A large raised platform stood in the middle of a half-circle of stone pews. This was a church. No doubt about it. And the crystals were powered by some sort of magic. I wanted to know how they worked. I want to know everything! STOP STARING AT THE PAINTINGS ON THE WALL, GIRL! Erm, I mean, I suppose they''re pretty. Lots of pictures of stars and even a galaxy on one. A couple nebula. Wait, why were we here again?


    Mother seemed to have done what we came here to do without Celestine noticing. We were already leaving. I spotted a few people in galaxy-adorned robes slightly waving at us with a smile. I want to know what they do. Why is everything so spacey?


    But I am still a child... A child can''t do much. I hate this. Knowing what I know as I reincarnate. If I had to wait until I grew up every time, I would probably go insane. Just this once, though, I am going to be patient. I will continue to test my limits of existing here without notice and when Celestine is old enough to fully communicate, I will begin contact.

 Chapter 3

    We''ve had two more little parties for Celestine. From what I''ve been able to translate, they are indeed birthday parties. My thinking is bound by the body''s capabilities, so I haven''t exactly been able to reliably count the days between each party. They are longer than an Earth year, for sure. Celestine has the body of someone who is about seven or eight years old and only had four birthday parties. The humans of this world must hit puberty at around six years and full adulthood in about ten. So we''re two-fifths of the way there.


    Over the last two years I''ve come to a solemn realization. I can''t just kick this girl''s soul out of the body and take it. It''s not fair and I''m not that heartless. Okay, I lied. I tried to kick her out. But I have no idea how. I can take limited control of her body while she''s asleep. That''s about it. As she''s gotten older, I''ve lost the ability to wrench control of the body. I can only share her sensations. Maybe if I had been aware when she was even younger I could have overpowered her, but I can no longer. This is not my body. This is Celestine''s body. So I need to start thinking of it in this way. That being the case, I should make myself known to her. If she gets older, she might overpower me even without knowing the lone hitchhiker just along for the ride was even there. It would be nice to have some sort of mutual relationship with my roommate.


    So today I decided to speak up while she and her mother were doing housework. Apparently the house doesn''t look like a dust-ridden shack all the time. Only when a sandstorm blasts through the area, which it had the day before I gained awareness. Mother cleans up really nicely. Not a single speck of dust or sand to be seen. While Celestine was working on holding a curtain while Mother patched it up with a bone needle and thread, I spoke softly, "GOOD MORNING CELESTINE! YOU''RE DOING A GOOD JOB HELPING YOUR MOTHER!" Or I intended to speak softly. I ended up shouting. I am not used to this, okay?


    The sudden contact made her recoil her arms, pulling the curtain her mother was still working on. A small rip sounded right before Celestine screamed and held her ears, closing her eyes. I don''t know what Mother is saying, but I can feel arms around the body now, trying to comfort her and figure out what''s wrong. Celestine speaks in blubbered cries, nothing Mother would be able to make out.


    "SorRY! I DIDN''t mean to SHOUT!" I tried to say, but my volume was up and down and it scared her even more.


    She managed to get out, "Momma! Someone''s shouting!" Tears staining her cheek, her hands are starting to hurt from holding her ears so tightly.


    Mother said a few words to try to calm her down before picking her up, arm under her bottom and resting her body against her shoulder. She''s getting a bit too big for this, Mother. It might be better to carry her in a princess carry? We''re already out the door, I can feel the heat of the day bleeding into the body. At least we were already wearing decent clothing. I can feel the walking pace as Celestine bounces up and down against Mother. She''s moving faster than normal, but can''t run with a child in her arm. I can''t see anything, though, because Celestine has her eyes closed shut. Hearing is back, though. She wrapped her arms around Mother''s neck to help support herself.


    It''s no surprise where we''re going. I don''t even have to guess. A child suddenly hearing voices no one else can hear? To the church. Most of the healing happens at the church. Over the last few years, I noticed that this city is deeply religious. The church is indeed the tallest building in the city and is built right in the center in the middle of a plaza at the crossroads. We''ve been to many church services and Mother visits frequently to pay the church workers a stipend for something. She seems to owe them a debt that can''t easily be repaid, so she''s paying back in small amounts. I hope debt isn''t inheritable in this world. It would be a shame if Celestine ends up needing to owe for Mother''s choices. It would be a shame if Mother is currently owing for her parents'' choices... it''s a church, but it isn''t too charitable.


    I still don''t know where she gets her money from. Every seven days she visits the bank for a small bag of coins and then immediately goes to the church to pay some of it to them. The rest goes to living essentials and a book on rare occasion to teach Celestine how to read. Are you on some sort of maternity leave, Mother? We''re old enough to take care of ourselves if you need to work. Or... well... I just complicated things didn''t I?


    I feel the rush of cool air flow over Celestine''s back. She opened her eyes a bit to see the stone doors of the church close behind us. I listened to her thoughts a bit. She wanted to turn around to look at the artwork on the church again, but was too frightened by the voice to move. She really likes the artwork of the church. I mean, sure, it''s pretty. But I''m more interested in the glowing light crystals. I guess you can''t expect a child that grew up with electric lights to marvel at them when compared to beautiful depictions of stars and personified constellations on the ceiling.


    The religion is something I only know bits and pieces of because Celestine''s attention has never been on the preachers when her and Mother attend the odd service. It''s always on the people, clothes, and art. But I have managed to pick up a little. Basically, they are polytheists. They worship seven major gods, which are based on six constellations of their zodiac and the last god represents the entire cosmos. Each god has a relation to one another either by parents, siblings, or just servants of one another. They also revere other constellations as minor gods. The gods themselves are the constellations, the brightest stars of the constellations make up representatives of their personality while the dimmer stars that reside within the constellation are their divine servants.


    "Diane!" Mother cried when she spotted an acolyte of the church she recognized. Celestine has long been able to make out names in the language. I''ll just translate them roughly with English equivalents because their language is a bit hard to grasp. A lot of speaking inflections make up a great majority of word differences.


    "Sylvianna, what''s wrong?" A calm voice asked while she approached. Oh, Mother''s name is Sylvianna. I learned that a while back. It just doesn''t feel right to call her that in my thoughts, though. But I suppose it suits her. This is a name I didn''t have to work hard on translating since it has few inflections and actually sounds like it could be a name in English. Same with Celestine. Does this mean we''re foreigners here?


    "Tina started crying saying she was hearing voices!" Mother was holding back outright sobbing in the middle of church. She really loves Celestine so much, she almost completely lost composure just telling what happened.


    "Hummm, well, it might just be her imagination." She smacked her lips a bit as she spoke. She clearly didn''t think this was too serious. Did she think Mother was a hypochondriac? There was a slight pause, probably the woman gauging Mother''s reaction to her diagnosis before she sighed and continued, "Let''s bring her downstairs and make sure, though."


    There was a hand pressed against the back of Celestine''s head. A cool rush of something entered her mind and she suddenly lost consciousness. She was sent to sleep. I''m glad I could still take in the world through her senses while she was asleep. I could hear and feel everything. But her eyes were closed. I could open them and look around, but that would be suspicious. She should be asleep. Only take in information that doesn''t rely on movement, me. The church already doesn''t think this is serious. If I call attention to myself, I could end up exorcised! Or worse. We could be executed. I''ve been killed a few times in my lives under the accusation of witchcraft and heresy. Not a fun time. Burning at the stake, I''ve actually gotten over that when I recall my memories, sadly. The nerves are burned rather quickly. So it''s just a slow wait till smoke inhalation causes unconsciousness. It''s the having your feet tied to rocks and thrown into a lake that traumatizes me the most when I recall them. Drowning is something you NEVER get used to. Drowning with your body anchored is the one cause of death where you pray death comes quicker just to end the suffering. The constant struggle of your instincts to breathe and to not suck in water... I don''t want to think about it. Thankfully water seems to be a rarity in this city, so I don''t have to worry about that form of execution. I don''t want to die at all, but sometimes you just can''t control what fate has planned for you.


    I could feel the light rocking as the weight of the body lessened with each step. So, going downstairs. I don''t recall being downstairs. I know that''s where the church hospital is, though, from what Mother told Celestine. They also have a few classrooms down here for young acolytes of the church as well. I want to see! I can risk a peek, right? The acolyte would be leading Mother, not following her.


    I slowly cracked Celestine''s right eyelid and saw the dark stone wall of the staircase lit up by small light crystals with thin wires strung between them. They were thin as spider silk and were only visible with the reflection of the light off of them. Is this how the lights are powered? Is this why the light crystals in the chapel room are suspended by cables instead of floating freely like you would expect in a magic world?


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Celestine''s experience with magic so far has been very limited. Limited mostly to light crystals, the drinking apparatus, and the various unexplained mysteries she sees when she accompanies Mother for errands. It might not even be magic, but anything unexplained to a child, and a hitchhiker that can recall innumerable lives from an alien world, is magic. I wonder why Mother hasn''t taught Celestine any magic? She''s seen Mother light the crystals in the house, but when Celestine tries to light them, nothing happens.


    We entered a room lit up with black stone walls but was contrasted with bright white floors and ceiling. The room looked much larger than it actually was. There were empty beds with white padding and covers lining the walls. About eight from my vantage point. So there were probably more behind us. I felt our weight shift. I closed the eye back up and felt the body being lowered onto a very comfortable surface.


    "I''ll go find Jorald. Wait right here with her." The woman said to Mother.


    Mother just replied with a simple hum, which I assume was accompanied with a nod.


    We sat in silence for some time. I was just enjoying the cool air and the soft bed. These are luxuries not afforded to us at home~ Oh, and Mother is softly holding our right hand and rubbing it. Occasionally she plays with Celestine''s hair a bit.


    A sudden clap broke the silence. I felt Mother jump and even I had to be careful to not move, that spooked me too. "Okay! What seems to be the problem this time, Syl? Been a few years since you brought little Celestine here for us to take a look at her. Her health should have been perfect since the last treatment." The steps down the stairs echoed a bit as the voice grew louder. Then I felt a rough hand grab Celestine''s left wrist to check her pulse.


    "We were at home doing a bit of housework and she started yelling about hearing a voice." Mother replied. Her voice was calmer this time. She probably knew the man well. What he said piqued my interest, though. Celestine was sick? I don''t remember that. Must have been shortly after she was born.


    "Well that''s new." He paused and his voice got lower as he turned away, "Diane, why didn''t you put her to sleep?" The voice asked the woman who had brought us downstairs.


    "I... did? Did she wake up on us? Celestine?" Diane said.


    "Too much brain activity for someone asleep. Stop pretending to sleep little Tina." He tapped lightly on Celestine''s shoulder.


    Okay. So when she''s asleep, I have full control of the brain and it gives off the same signals as someone fully awake. Is that correct? Now, how the hell did he read the brain activity? Is this a new magic spell? Oh well, stay quiet me.


    I feel two fingers press against Celestine''s eyelids and force them open. I try to keep still, but by reflex I looked at the man above. His eyes were black as night. His irises were solid black. At least he still had white in his eyes. That would be way too scary if his entire eyes were black. He looked like an older man in his fifties. His hair was a gray and black mixed up mop over his head. A stubble stretched over his face from ear to ear. He was looking down at me with a smile like he found a pet that he thought was hiding from him, but was in actuality just sleeping on a shelf somewhere he didn''t bother to check at first.


    His smile didn''t last long, though. He was staring into Celestine''s eye with great thought. He got closer. I could see the finer detail of his eyes. They weren''t pitch black. More like everything in his iris was dyed a dark shade of gray. I don''t care what his name is, he is Charcoal Man from now on. Teehee.


    I saw his eyes flash a bit, more magic I presume. "So..."


    I swallowed hard under his scrutiny. What happens now?


    "What is your name, $&^$^%$$?"


    "$&^$^%$$!?" Mother chirped. Her voice was so high. What did he call me? Celestine doesn''t know this word.


    "C-Celestine?" I moved the mouth and made the words come out, but they were slurred. Partly because she was asleep and because I never tried to make her talk before while she was asleep.


    "That is the name of the girl who''s body you are sharing. I want to know YOUR name, $&^$^%$$," Charcoal Man clarified.


    "W-what am I?" I asked. This man knows more than he is letting on.


    "You are a $&^$^%$$." He answered plainly.


    "I don''t understand. We have not heard this word before." I answer back, slowly. I debated on whether I should say ''Celestine has not'' or ''we have not''. In the end, it probably didn''t matter.


    "A very, very rare being. But a being close to divinity with the gods. $&^$^%$$% are travelers... of a sort. I only know what I''ve read in stories, but they themselves claim to be lost souls that have become bound to humans of our world. They come with other-worldly knowledge and experiences. The last one I know of appeared over three hundred years ago, I believe. He died very young, though. It''s a shame. But those eyes are unmistakable characteristics of one and my identification magic confirmed it just now."


    "What do the eyes look like?" Identification magic?


    "Constant shifting tiny dots of color. Within your eyes, one can see eternity."


    Both of the eyes are open now, I turn to Mother and look at her. Her face is... complicated. "Is this normal?" I wanted to call her Mother, but that would be too much for her right now. I pointed to my eyes with Celestine''s heavy right hand.


    She shook her head, "Never like this. Wh-When I look into your... Celestine''s, eyes I occasionally see a single tiny dot of changing color, but I never worried about it until now..."


    "That is the eye of a $&^$^%$$''s host while they are conscious and the $&^$^%$$ is watching. Remarkable! Tell us your name!" Charcoal Man is getting way too wide-eyed for his own good. If these were any other circumstances, I would have maced him in another life.


    "I have lived... many lives." I pause. Charcoal man never said the thing he called me recalled multiple lives. Just that they had otherworldly knowledge. "More than I can possibly count. I have had many names. But I remember none of them. Everything is a blur. Many lives are mixed. I remember unique events clearly, but everything else is beyond me. The only memories that are clear are the memories with Celestine."


    "You speak words we do not know, $&^$^%$$." Diane spoke softly. I slowly lifted the head and saw her. Ahh, I remember her. An older woman. Old enough to be my grandmother. Her red hair is slowly showing streaks of gray. She is usually in the back during services. Right now she has a pad of paper, I think. Is she trying to transcribe this exchange? She is wearing the same black robes with blue stars on it as normal, as with Charcoal Man. I kinda like that robe. A whole galaxy on the front.


    But words they do not know? Oh, I have been supplementing English in place of the words I speak to them. Celestine doesn''t know the word for ''blur'' or ''possibly''. "Of your tongue, all I know is what Celestine knows. I am sorry." If I have time I would like to teach them some English in case the next one of me shows up and they can''t understand them. But 300 years... That''s way too long. Am I really so rare? I turn to Mother. "S-Sylvianna." Her eyes, emeralds. "I never asked for this. I am sorry."


    "N-no no no, don''t apologize!" She rushed forward. She grabbed Celestine''s hand and held it between hers. I looked at the hands, then up to her eyes again. They were sparkling. "How long have you been there? All along? Hiding in the back of my baby''s mind. Then today all you wanted to do is make yourself known, right? My baby with a $&^$^%$$." She started crying. She rested her head on her hands clasping Celestine''s and whispered, "I''m so glad she''s not sick again..."


    "What should we call you? I''m sure just calling you $&^$^%$$ is getting annoying?" Charcoal Man asked. I''m glad he retreated from my personal space. His expression is still creepy, though.


    "I am still unsure how it is spoken in my tongue. Does $&^$^%$$ have any other meanings?" I asked.


    "Ummm, tourist? Traveler? Wayfarer, maybe? It''s hard to say. Like calling an adventurer someone who simply stumbles in their backyard. It just doesn''t fit well."


    "For lack of a better word, I''ll just call it Voyager. Heh, that brings up a new memory." I was never a big fan of Star Trek, but I did enjoy Voyager. My situation even fits well with the theme of the show.


    "Would you like us to call you that as your name?" Diane asked.


    "No." I closed my eyes and thought of what I would want people of this world to know me as. Or in the very least what I want Celestine, Mother, and the few who know of me to know me as. I thought back to my last memory on Earth. I don''t remember dying, but I remember watching a documentary series on the computer. It was called NOVA. I could easily call myself that, but it just doesn''t feel right, so I will butcher it a bit. "Call me Novos."

 Chapter 4

    "Now then... Novos. We know the source of Celestine''s voice. We should move on to-" Diane spoke, but something was on my mind.


    "What did he mean earlier? What last treatment? Celestine has no memory of being here." I gestured to Charcoal Man.


    I felt Mother''s grip tighten, but it was Charcoal Man that spoke up. "When Celestine was less than a year old, she was suffering from constant bouts of shaking, headaches, and fainting, all combined. It is incredibly rare, and hard for my skill to identify the cause so we just treat the symptoms. Usually even children who are given constant treatment for such die before their first year. Celestine held on, though and made a wonderful recovery shortly after her second birthday."


    "The first memory I have is falling out of bed as Celestine was asleep. Is the timing similar, Mother?"


    I felt Mother jump a bit, hearing someone else call her Mother from her own daughter''s mouth. I wonder if I could ever have a similar relationship to her as a child and a mother. I looked at her eyes, staring blankly in thought. "It... was about that time, I suppose? I hardly remember that, though. But I suppose?"


    "Food for thought, then. Perhaps the seizures were caused by me as I was pulled into Celestine''s body? Or maybe me being here cured them? Or perhaps it was all unrelated and I was pulled into her body from your healing methods? Hard to say." I mumbled aloud.


    "Seizure? We do not know this word." Diane asked, probably looking for my otherworldly knowledge. I have no reason not to give it.


    "It is a reaction to some brain disorders in my world, though it was only in recent memory that we have been able to treat it reliably. I believe doctors used the oil extract from a certain plant. It''s nothing to worry about if such a thing doesn''t exist here. But it might be worth looking into if such cases of disease increase. It''s not contagious, so don''t worry."


    Charcoal Man cleared his throat. "We are off topic. We have a Voyager in our midst. I will go contact Head Priest Hohn for his guidance. But I suspect we will be having Celestine''s Awakening performed early." Charcoal Man sits up and walks toward the stairs. That was good timing. I didn''t want to sit here detailing the intricacies of marijuana to people in a new world.


    "Awakening?" I know the word, but I suspect it has another meaning.


    "Children in our city undergo a ceremony when they are eight years old. It opens their @%^$^#%*) for learning to channel magic." Diane adds.


    "I see..." A new word. I don''t want to question it, though. We''ll learn it eventually. "Shouldn''t Celestine be awake for this?"


    "Ah yes. I got so caught up in our discussion I forgot." Diane said, then was about to move forward.


    "Wait." I said, then turned to Mother. "Make sure to explain everything as best as you can to Celestine. I am still not used to the mind talk, so I don''t want to scare her again. I need a bit of practice and I need her to understand that and not be afraid. Please, Sylvianna."


    Mother nodded softly. Diane came forward and placed her hand on Celestine''s forehead. I felt control wrenched from me and shift back to Celestine as she regained consciousness. I''ll keep an ear open, but I expect Mother to just explain what already happened to Celestine in a way the girl can understand.


    There''s a lot more to think about now and much more I don''t quite understand. The first being my existence. Worst case scenario I probably could have pretended to be a god. It works to my advantage far too conveniently that I am an existence that is known. I would like to know more about the previous Voyagers in this world, to see if I really am like them or if my circumstances here are coincidental with the hallmarks of a Voyager. It would be nice if I could find a living Voyager so we could compare notes.


    The next topic was magic. So magic is something that needs to be unlocked, then taught. Who''s going to teach me? The church? I would prefer to not be bound by religion, even if these gods they worship really do exist. But given the conditions of our home, I doubt Mother would be able to afford something like a private tutor. Celestine can barely read yet.


    Oh, Mother finished explaining things to Celestine. Is it my time to try contact again? Hmm, no. I will wait. Celestine is shaking a bit, still. Her mind is all over the place. Bracing herself for me to yell again and trying to figure out why no one could get rid of me. But there''s a new thought superseding everything else. She''s marveling at the opportunity to use magic. We''ve seen Mother use mostly the light crystals and the occasional tool. But there was another form of magic she witnessed. Whenever Mother pulls up a book to read, she uses some sort of light magic to create a floating ball of light above her to illuminate the book. Pure magic without the use of crystals. That''s what Celestine wants to be able to do.


    I could hear slow steps on stone coming down the stairs. It sounded like the tap of two feet with the thud of a piece of wood on stone. It was slow enough and rhythmic enough, is it an elderly man with a cane? Celestine turned her attention to the stairs and sure enough a man in a black robe with a bright white cane was meandering down the steps. His hair was a mess of white and his beard covered his neck. So the image of an old man with a long beard is the universal symbol of wise-man? His robe was slightly different, though. Instead of the blue galaxy like we''ve seen so far, his galaxy was red. Is there some sort of significance to that color other than age or position within the church?


    "What do we have here, now? Little Celestine. I haven''t seen you since you were born. I''m glad you''re doing well." His voice rose in pitch as he finished each sentence. It was an odd quirk in a land where language is partly based on speech inflections, but what he said still held the desired meaning. "And you have a new friend in there?" He brought up his cane and lightly tapped on Celestine''s head. Not hard at all, just playful poking. Seeing it up close, it wasn''t made of wood. It was bleached white bone. I don''t think Celestine has even seen a tree in her life.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Celestine didn''t answer, she just looked down at her feet.


    "Well, no worries. Though I am surprised to see a Voyager appear in my lifetime, and especially here of all places, we''ll put that aside for now. So, are you ready to be able to make magic?"


    She looked up at the old man and I can imagine the face she must be making.


    The old man responded with a light chuckle and a smile. "Oh of course you are." There was another acolyte that was standing behind him. He was wearing a black robe, but his galaxy was yellow. I wish I could figure out the hierarchy of the colors. But the red and yellow seemed more important than the blue. The yellow acolyte was carrying a white robe. He walked forward and handed it to Mother. The old man spoke again. "We''ll head back upstairs to prepare the ceremony. Now you get changed and come up with your mother when you''re ready."


    Celestine nodded and all of the acolytes moved to the stairs and walked slowly back up behind the old man.


    Celestine reached for the white robe in Mother''s hands. It was really soft. Softer than anything she had felt. Mother casually took off Celestine''s sundress and placed the hem of the robe over Celestine''s head. In the rush out of the house, Mother hadn''t grabbed Celestine''s twine sandals, so she was barefoot. But that didn''t matter really because Celestine wouldn''t be able to walk in this robe anyway. It was over two feet too long. She couldn''t get her hands out of the sleeves. Celestine didn''t complain, though. It was still a very soft material and she hoped she could keep it after whatever it is they were planning to do to her.


    Mother picked Celestine up and carried her back upstairs.


    The layout of the chapel was different. The first few rows of stone pews were removed. A decorative stone altar was placed on top of the middle stage. Seven colorful crystals floated around it with seven acolytes under each one. The only one in a black robe with red galaxy was under the largest crystal. It was the old man with his bone cane. The others had the hoods of their robes up over their heads, but she did notice one acolyte with a white galaxy robe had really long blonde hair that flowed down her chest from under her hood.


    "The ceremony is ready. Please bring the child forward for the judgment of the gods." The old man spoke. His voice echoed in the room. A few people were in pews a few rows near the back in silent prayer. They were probably here before the ceremony was being prepared and they decided to stay.


    Mother walked quickly to the stage, up the stone steps, and placed Celestine on the stone altar. "Lay down, baby." Mother said, positioning Celestine in the center of the altar and lowering her willingly down. She repositioned her feet, then pulled the end of the robe so it was straight down to the end. The acolyte with blonde hair moved forward and lightly lifted up Celestine''s head to pull her black hair out and splayed above her head instead of having her lay on it. Celestine could see her face now. Her face was a bit rounded and she had a few wrinkles. Those were her only imperfections. While Mother''s beauty was of youth, this blonde woman had a sort of aged beauty that I have never seen fit so well. Usually on Earth it is the men that get better looking with age. This woman defied that. While you wouldn''t mistake her for someone young, you could not deny that beauty is the best word to describe her. I hope she''s still around when Celestine gets that age so we can press her for her secrets. She gently patted Celestine''s forehead, then returned to her position under the floating crystal.


    The altar turned under Celestine and repositioned her head in front of the old man. He spoke loudly for all to hear. Celestine''s gaze turned to a huge white crystal floating above her. "Due to circumstances we shall not mention aloud to %$#%## within the court, we of the high priests have determined the child; Celestine, daughter of Sylvianna and Daemon Tanett; must undertake her awakening ahead of schedule." Wait, did he just name Celestine''s father? Celestine tried to look at her Mother, but some force was keeping her body still against her will. "We pray the highest gods share our judgment and will allow us to proceed."


    Within Celestine''s vision, all seven crystals above the surrounding acolytes started to light up. They didn''t flash on all at once, they did so out of any order. The last one to light up was a dark gray one, that gave off an eerie light. Is this some kind of representation of the will of the gods? Don''t tell me gods actually exist in this world.


    While the gods'' names could be easily spoken, they had little meaning in English so I took some liberties with their names here.


    "Lumos, god of light, has given his approval and blessing to the child, Celestine." One of the acolytes said aloud. A bright yellow light connected the yellow crystal to the huge crystal above Celestine. She has begun to shake nervously.


    "Aphrodite, god of fertility, has given her approval and blessing to the child, Celestine." The blonde woman''s voice spoke next. The green crystal sent its green beam of light into the huge crystal.


    "Fames, god of sustenance, has given his approval to the child, Celestine." The crimson crystal sent its red beam into the huge crystal. So this god didn''t want to bless her unlike the other two?


    "Messer, god of earth, has given her approval and blessing to the child, Celestine." A brown crystal sent the brown beam of light to the huge crystal. The huge crystal was now humming and vibrating above Celestine.


    "Iroh, god of flame, has given his approval to the child, Celestine." The blue crystal sent a blue beam into the central crystal.


    There was a pause for a while before another spoke. "Mortuus, god of decay, begrudgingly gives his approval to the child, Celestine." The gray crystal sent a thin beam at the central crystal.


    There was some murmuring from an audience Celestine couldn''t turn her head to see. Was that bad? I didn''t make an enemy of the god of death, did I?


    "Jupiter, god of the cosmos, has given his approval to the child, Celestine, and forced the hand of Mortuus, god of decay." The crystal above the old man sent out a beam of bright white light to the central crystal. "In accordance with the will of the gods, we shall borrow their power to awaken the latent abilities of the child and apply their blessings. To awaken the dormant power within her spirit to the power of the cosmos."


    A loud snap echoed through the entire room. The crystal above Celestine had fractured. A rainbow of light descended onto her body and penetrated to our very being. The gravity of the world was lost, we felt no weight, but the pain... the pain was un-im-maginable. I take back what I said about drowning. This pain was worse. So. So much worse. It felt as if every inch of skin was on fire. Every organ screamed in pain, the heart was beating so fast that the blood flowing through the veins burned the vessels. Every hair on the body was a lightning rod and electricity was blasting through every orifice. Even the spit in the tongue and the urine staining her legs felt like acid. I want to die again. Please!


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Celestine''s scream split the stone below us. I screamed in her head and compounded everything. The breath leaving our lungs felt like fire. The body arched in pain and everything went black.

 Chapter 5

    I took a sharp breath and opened my eyes. Everything was black. I was laying on an invisible floor. I slowly forced my body up and into a comfortable old position from one of my previous lives, it was a mix of kneeling but I was sitting between my legs. I looked around me, nothing but black. So I haven''t been thrown back into the static void. That was a good start. Does this mean I was reborn again now?


    I look down at my body. My body is nothing but static. I have arms, legs, and the typical extremities, but my skin is all static. Constant fuzz of white, black, reds, yellows, blues, greens, and everything in between. My body also lacked any sex characteristics. No breasts, no genitals, even my body''s shape was like an in-between. I felt my face with my static hands. There was no eyes, mouth, or nose. Only bumps and divots where they should be. I opened my mouth, my jaw moved, but no hole opened up. I felt my mouth was open, but my hands told otherwise.


    I found my voice and tried to speak. "Ahh uhhh humm." What came out was a doubled voice. A mix of male and female speaking at once. Of course I lived many lives where I was one or the other. Why should I take the form of either one now? Hm, a thought stirred disdain for a certain Internet website in the back of my mind. I shook my head to be rid of the bit idiocy I discovered during my last life.


    "Celestine?" I asked aloud. I wonder if we were still alive. I''ve never actually been unconscious since I gained awareness inside Celestine, so this world of black could be that feeling? If that''s the case then whatever that ceremony was might have done something to how our souls are bonded in the body. I hope I haven''t been cut off from her. I don''t think I can stay sane if I have to stay here alone in this darkness for the rest of her life!


    I slowly stood up and surveyed the darkness. Then the light and surroundings shifted. Like blinking once, everything was now different. Gone was the endless dark and what surrounded me now was a street in a dusty city that I remembered from Celestine''s memories. This was our city. The dark stone church building rose in the distance. I could see faceless people walking by.


    "Celestine?!" I called out.


    Nothing responded. I realized that no one around me was making noise. Not even the wind was whistling through the stone buildings or the crunch of footsteps on the hardened sand roads echoed. The faceless people walked aimlessly about their day in this place. In this pack of people, I saw a little girl in a corner, huddled with her head buried in her knees and breathing softly. I began to walk toward her. I lightly touched her head with my static hand, and she turned to dust.


    I recoiled. Then everything changed again. I was standing in a library this time. I recall this place from one of my memories. I was a young librarian''s apprentice in the Victorian era in England. I don''t recall much about myself specifically, though. All memories of myself are blurred together. But I do have fond memories of working and reading in this place. I started to walk slowly between each row of shelves taller than myself. Everything was carved out of beautiful dark wood. The walls were made of stone bricks with wooden trimmings and decorations. Huge windows illuminated the building with the morning sun. The floor was made of cold and hard marble tiles. I wouldn''t mind reliving this life if I wouldn''t die so young.


    Sitting in a corner with a book in her hands was Celestine. I recognized her black hair this time. She was staring intently at the print on the page in a language she couldn''t understand, but her brown eyes moved over the page as if she could.


    "Celestine?" I called out to her. And her form was replaced with a pile of books. The book she had been holding fell and closed itself on the floor. Sensing a pattern here, I turned my head and the scene changed once more.


    Now I stood in the church. I could see the last memory of the place. The floating stone crystals above an altar up on stage with seven people around in a circle with a woman in black hair standing off to the side. Celestine was not on the stone altar. It was empty. I turned and saw a man sitting in one of the far pews, hands clutched in prayer. Between his fingers was a wooden rod with a red stone embedded in it with a small red light glowing from it and a thin line of light stretching forward to the huge crystal in the middle of the room. Everything was frozen in time.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Anything made of wood in this world seemed suspect. I reached out with my left hand, grabbed the red stone, ripped it out of his hand, and punched him with my right hand. Everything about the man turned to dust in the stone pew. I don''t know if I really did anything, but it felt good to be in control of something in this dream. I took the wand in my hand and crushed it to powder. Then everything shifted again.


    This time I was standing in the middle of an asphalt-paved street in the middle of a city. A few cars drove by unaware of me. I looked up to the sky and saw an enormous burst of light. The shine rivaled the sun. I took in all of the information available to me. Then the world was lost with the rush of the solar ejection from the light. I vaguely knew what this could be with my knowledge gained in my past life. An attack thousands of years in travel. And Earth was gone. The atmosphere stripped, the mantle bare. All of human existence wiped clean by a force of nature no one could have predicted. A gamma-ray burst.


    Of course there''s really no way to know for sure if what I am seeing is truth or just the dream of a delusional being lost in the universe, i.e. me.


    I turned and saw a lone girl standing, staring at me with her brown eyes. Her mouth was open in awe. I turned around and saw the light from the burst recede as fast as it came. The world restored to a second before the event and time froze.


    I would not approach her this time. I turned to her and lowered myself down to kneel on one leg. I casually spoke in my doubled voice. "It''s nice to meet you finally, Celestine."


    She flinched. But at least she didn''t disappear this time. It was getting annoying. I would have had to figure out a way to control this dream space if she had kept doing that. It wasn''t fair.


    "Who are you?" Her sweet childish voice asked. Now that I looked at her, she was younger than she really was. Maybe a year or two younger? Earth years, of course.


    "I have given myself the name Novos. I''m sorry for scaring you, earlier. I am still unsure how best to speak to you. Your mother explained what I am." I said.


    "Are you going to hurt me?" She asked, shaking.


    "I never want to hurt you. I''ve been watching you. I want to help you as best as I can. If you''ll let me, that is." I said.


    She took careful steps on the black road toward me. "You look strange."


    I laughed a bit. "I know. It''s something I haven''t quite gotten used to either." I lifted my left hand to my face, the powder of the wand I crushed was still caked into the static skin. "Well, let''s just agree to take care of each other? Does that sound like a plan?" I looked back up to her. I wanted to smile, I tried to smile, but I doubt it came across as such since I have no mouth.


    She closed the distance between us, skipping a bit. I held out my right hand and she held it carefully.


    Everything vanished, and I felt light stinging my eyes. Not my eyes, Celestine''s eyes. She was starting to wake up. She was in full control of the body, but I felt I also had some semblance of control. Maybe more feeling was reaching me than it was before. The body felt so heavy. She tried to prise herself up off the stone altar. Her body was quickly grabbed by Mother in a tight hug. Her voice was soft, like there was something in the ears that prevented us from hearing her voice, but we heard her sobbing and her hug was starting to hurt.


    "Momma! I can''t breathe!" Celestine whined. Mother slowly relented and gave her more room to breath.


    The ears were clearing. A soft ringing that prevented sound receded. Celestine looked around and all of the acolytes were on the ground, breathing heavily. Only the old man managed to stay on his knees, clutching the bone staff. Looking up, the crystals were softly circling in the air in fragments. And the beautiful work of art on the ceiling was marred by a huge black mark that gouged a hole through the roof and let the mid-day sun pour in.


    <What the hell happened?> I spoke in her mind. More control over my voice now.


    "Novos!" Celestine chirped, making Mother jump.


    <Yes, I''m still here. You don''t need to speak aloud, just try thinking what you want to say.> I said. I thought back to how the head priest worded the ceremony. He seemed to want to keep the fact I''m here a secret to the parishioners.


    <ARE YOU OKAY?> She shouted.


    <Try to be a little quieter. You''re having the same problem I was having. That was loud.>


    <ARe you OKAY?!> She tried again.


    <I''m fine. Focus on what''s happening around us.> She''ll learn.


    "Momma, what happened? Is everyone okay?" She eyed the man who was under the gray crystal. His ears were bleeding. "Momma!"


    Mother finally moved from her hug. She turned to someone who was standing a distance away awestruck with his black eyes. Charcoal Man! "JORALD!" Mother shouted. He jumped and began shouting for other acolytes to help the injured ones.


    Mother picked Celestine up and carried her body tightly to her chest, rushing her back downstairs and onto the bed from before. Energy left Celestine and she collapsed again just from sheer exhaustion. Her entire body ached. I felt tired as well and slipped back to the dreamworld.

 Chapter 6

    This time the dream took us home. To the little stone house that Celestine lives in with her mother. She sat at the stone dining table while I was standing idly near the clay front door.


    Actually, was being awake before even real? Everything moved too fluidly.


    This is giving me a headache. I brought my hand to my head and massaged my temples. I walked over to the dining table and sat down opposite of Celestine. She was looking at me with a bright smile on her face.


    "Well, seems like you''re asleep again?" I asked. "Or still..." Again, were we even awake? I wanted to know more about what happened and what caused all that pain. If the ceremony was supposed to be painful, wouldn''t they have said something?


    "It''s weird. My dreams are never this real." Her smile had disappeared. She was looking at the table shyly.


    I took a deep breath. Well, if this is a dream, I wonder how much control I have. I would like to see myself. So I turned my head to the left and just like I wanted, a full body mirror appeared a few paces away and reflected my sitting form. It''s about what I suspected. My body is covered in the static of my void world experiences. No sexual identifiers on me at all. Should I consider myself male then? But then it might be awkward when Celestine gets older. I''ll just keep going with neither for now.


    "Whoah, how did you do that?" Celestine jumped up and walked over to the mirror to study her reflection.


    "This is a dream. When you discover you''re dreaming while having the dream, you can sometimes take control of it. Guess control works for both of us. Why don''t you try making something appear?" I said from behind her, looking at her face in the mirror''s reflection.


    She looked at herself in the mirror for a bit before closing her eyes tightly. Something appeared beside me and someone new sat at the table to my right. I turned and saw Mother sitting there drinking a cup of tea like she usually does in the mornings.


    Celestine jumped up and ran over to hug Mother''s waist.


    "Momma!"


    "You''re so spoiled, girl. I weep for your future." I said with a half chuckle.


    The dream Mother didn''t say anything. She just casually stroked Celestine''s hair. I thought for a moment that I wanted a cup of tea myself. Celestine has never tasted Mother''s tea, though, so I don''t know what hers tastes like. I just summoned up a cup of black tea from my memories and drank it from a clay cup similar to Mother''s.


    "Hey, Novos!" I was in the middle of a sip when I saw Celestine was done hugging Mother and was beside me now looking up at me.


    "Hm? What is it?"


    "Are you a boy or a girl?" She asked. That was blunt. Well, I was expecting this sooner or later.


    "Yes." I said simply, then continued my sip.


    "No, which one?" She asked, confused at my response, but not relenting.


    "Both? I guess. In my past lives, I''ve been born as boys and girls. I don''t know if I''ve been born more as a boy or a girl, though." I responded.


    "Past lives? You''ve been alive before?!"


    Oh yeah. Mother''s explanation of what I was didn''t go too deep. It was just a general overview of what a Voyager was. A sort of spirit guide from another world, as she explained? My thoughts were preoccupied at the time and Celestine''s memory is fuzzy from the fear she felt. "Yeah, I have. Come, sit back down in your chair. Would you like me to teach you a game from a few of my past lives?"The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Yeah!" She shouted and walked back to her seat on the other side of the table. The table wasn''t too large. Just enough for maybe four people to have a simple meal without much extra table space. Dream Mother wasn''t really doing anything but sitting there watching Celestine, so the table was empty. She sat on her chair and waited for the game to begin.


    I sifted through my memories and recalled a simple board game. One second the table was empty, the next a board of 8x8 black and red alternating squares appeared with two sets of twelve colored discs. The board was made of stone, but the chips were made of plastic. A foreign material in this world, most likely. Celestine won''t care about that so much, though. It was a checkers set. I suspected she was too young to learn chess, but that was on the list of games I could teach her in the future. She was likely capable of playing chess, but she had never played a board game before. So it would be better to start simple. I also know a couple card games I could try to teach.


    I casually explained the rules. How turns worked, how the chips moved each turn, how to capture chips, how you can go backwards once a chip hits the other side of the board, and the win condition of getting all of the opponents pieces. She soaked everything up like a sponge. She lost the first two games, but finally got me in a corner on the last game. Strategy games were never my strong suit in the lives I remember. Maybe if I had lived to an old age I could have picked up some skill in that regard, but all of my lives were short-lived. Still, to be beaten by a child like this now, maybe she does have a talent in these kind of games.


    "Haha! I won!" She started to rub it in. Now that''s starting to hurt my pride. Or what''s left of it.


    "Now, don''t be a sore winner. I didn''t act like that when I won, did I?" I reprimanded.


    Her smile vanished. Now I felt bad.


    "That''s not to say you can''t still be happy." She smiled again. "Here, give me a handshake." I said, extending my hand over the table. She looked at me funny before she took it and we shook softly. "A little respect toward the loser goes a long way. Don''t forget to be a respectable winner." She nodded.


    I feel like I''m going to end up being some sort of father figure for her at this rate. Mother does all the babying and here I am teaching her about sportsmanship in a dream.


    My vision shifts and the dream ends in front of me in an instant. Now I''m back in a black void. Even the chair disappeared from under me, but there was no gravity here now. "Celestine?" I called out. I focused on the sensation I''ve felt for the last few years since I woke up in her bed. I think she woke up on me, but I''m still stuck in her unconsciousness. I close my eyes and focus on how I shared her vision for so long. It was just an involuntary effort before, I never bothered to think I would have to struggle like this.


    A shiver traveled down my body in the black of this unconsciousness. The more I tried to see through her eyes, the more that shiver happened. I switched focus to the shiver and it got stronger. After a few minutes, my whole body was chilled by the sensation. From head to toe my body was submerged in chill water. When the feeling encompassed my head, I opened my eyes and I could see through Celestine''s eyes again. But I also felt as if I still had my own body in the dream state. Did this awakening ceremony do something to my place within Celestine''s head?


    I focused on the shivering again and willed my ears to pick up her hearing. A rush of air flooded my senses, it was just the sound of Celestine breathing, though.


    The room was dimly lit, but it was the hospital ward. How long had we been asleep? They must have dimmed the lights for night. Celestine was awake and Mother''s head was laying on Celestine''s lap. She was softly sleeping. Celestine looked around and saw that the white robe she had been wearing was hung up on a movable wall that the hospital ward used to separate the bed areas. The robe looked shorter now, though. And it had a huge X on it instead of a galaxy like all the acolytes. It was too dark to make out any more detail.


    A few beds further away were occupied by adults and Celestine saw a nurse going around checking on them. The nurse acolyte was wearing a white apron over her black robe. She didn''t seem familiar, so it was either too dark to make a positive ID or she was the night shift. Celestine''s vision rested on an odd bed. There was a person''s shape on it, but the covers were over their face and they weren''t breathing. So that''s a universal trait for hiding the dead here, too?


    My voice! I need to find my voice before she realizes what that is!


    <C-Celestine!>


    "Oh, Novos?" She was whispering. I distracted her, good.


    <Shhh, try to talk in your head. I can hear you just fine.>


    It took her a sec to figure out how best to speak to me. I could still access her thoughts at least. I guess the best way was to picture me in her mind and direct her thoughts to me. <Is everything alright?> she asked.


    <It seems you slept for a while. I think it''s night time. You should lay back down and go to sleep, too. We can play a few more games of checkers in the dream.>


    <Okay!> She slowly laid back down so as to not disturb Mother. She closed her eyes and after a bit of time, she drifted back to sleep.


    Today was a long day. I hope tomorrow is a little quieter.

 Chapter 7

    Celestine woke up after our seventh game of checkers. She won every one of them. This girl is way too good at this. Did I unlock some hidden talent for strategy games? Maybe I could teach her chess. Also, simply being in her home is kind of a waste of a dream. I''ll see what I can do tonight. I repeated what I did last night, followed the shivering of my spine in the darkness and reattached my senses to hers. Sight, hearing, and touch were the most important at the moment.


    Mother was hugging Celestine''s body tightly, blubbering sweet nothings through her crying. Celestine was softly patting the back of the grown woman and trying to get separated from her. She was still laying in the bed, which was soaked wet with what I hoped was sweat. It was a lot hotter in here than is was yesterday. Did whatever was keeping the building cool break?


    I could hear the sound of nurses walking around and checking on others laying in the other beds. Thankfully the bed with the body was missing. The people laying in beds were sort of familiar. Especially that one woman with the blonde hair. She was laying on a bed sleeping. A nurse came by to lift her covers and wipe off sweat. Seems all of their robes were removed so they didn''t roast to death in their sleep. Celestine managed to lift the cover off herself a bit to see she was also naked under the bed with nothing but her simple underwear on.


    Celestine''s sundress was hung up next to the white robe behind Mother. Now that the lights were on, the X could clearly be seen for what it was. A blue spiral galaxy was visible on the robe going from the right shoulder to the left waist. But underneath that, a pure black galaxy was going from the left shoulder to the right waist. This galaxy was clearly different. While the blue one was a spiral galaxy, the black one was a barred spiral galaxy. They''re similar, but the barred spiral is distinctive in that from the center, the arms of the galaxy connect to a straight cluster of stars that pass through the core. While I was in my last life on Earth, I learned that the Milky Way was a barred-spiral, or at least it was theorized it was. Hard to see the shape of a galaxy when you''re inside it.


    It didn''t take long to understand what the galaxies on the robes represent. Since the blue one looks identical to the galaxies on the other acolytes'' robes, except in color for some. I guess that this is the galaxy this planet currently resides. Then the black galaxy is really the Milky Way. The galaxies represent the home galaxy of the person who undergoes the awakening then? But then why is the Milky Way there? For me? Okay, that seems kind of obvious. But I can''t confirm it yet.


    "Momma, st-stahp. I can''t breathe!" Celestine whined. She lied of course. She could breathe fine and it seems Mother knows this since she didn''t relent on her hugging.


    The sound of footsteps on stairs and the clack of a cane echoed a bit. So the old man is coming back now? Maybe he can explain a few things now. He was accompanied by a few other acolytes. They weren''t wearing their usual robes. The man acolyte was wearing a tank-top and shorts while the woman was wearing a crop-top sleeveless shirt and something like yoga pants. They looked really tight, but they didn''t seem to be sweating so they did the job. Something I noticed in our time in the city is that people weren''t too modest when it came to keeping cool. If it weren''t for rules against public nudity, I''m sure a lot of people would just opt to go walking around in their birthday suits. The old man was still wearing his black robe with red galaxy, though, and he didn''t appear to be sweating. So maybe he''s using some sort of cooling magic. His beard and hair seem to be moving like he''s standing in front of a fan.


    They walked over to the foot of Celestine''s bed and just watched the struggling Celestine while looking at the old man with eyes that screamed ''help me!'' Of course they waited for, what seemed like ten minutes, a minute before the old man coughed loud enough to get Mother''s attention.


    Mother jumped a bit before turning to see the group at the foot of the bed. She looked back to Celestine like she was contemplating ignoring them to return to treating Celestine like a living teddy bear. Then she sat back on her chair and acknowledged the old man. "Head Priest Mohn, is everything okay now?"


    "The damage is extensive. We''ll need to order a new focus crystal to be brought in from @^%$#&%$#, but other than that, everything is fine." The old man turned to Celestine. "How are you feeling, Celestine? That was quite a scare for everyone. We''ll have to cancel services for a few weeks to repair the damages."


    "W-what did I do?" Celestine wanted to hide in the blanket of the bed, but at the same time she wanted to just get out of the bed because it was so hot and sticky.


    "Listen here, girl." His voice was loud and sounded angry, it made Celestine flinch. "Nothing that happened upstairs is your fault. It is mine." His voice returned to normal. "We have never had to perform an Awakening on someone with a Voyager before. The Founders clearly underestimated the powers of a Voyager when they wrote that little clause in our doctrines. I should have been more prepared and placed extra precautions. BUT, nothing can be done of it now. It was a learning experience for everyone. We will accept our losses and move forward as the gods'' will has wanted." He nodded to himself.


    Celestine stopped trying to hide in her bed cover and let it fall to her waist. It''s hot in here and she''s still a child. Nothing wrong with this, right? Hey, yoga pants acolyte, why did you just punch the t-shirt acolyte? She went and closed the movable walls more to keep peepers out. That was too much an overreaction. Celestine''s chest is still no different than a boy''s at this age.


    Celestine''s thoughts were elsewhere. She turned to her mother and then to the robe. "Is the robe supposed to look like that?" She pointed to it.


    "Noo, no, this is quite a shock. Usually when we do the Awakening the robe turns black and there is only one #&%##! on it. Quite curious how there are two. I suppose your next question is what the colors mean?" He pointed to his own robe and Celestine nodded. "The colors represent the age of the soul. Most are very young, that''s why it''s blue on most acolytes and why yours is blue there, see? But the longer a soul is in the cycle of life and death, the older and stronger it becomes. The colors range from blue being the youngest, then white, yellow, orange, and red represents the oldest. Or it was once considered to be the oldest before..." he pointed to the robe, "that. I suspect the black #&%##! represents Novos''s soul."


    <Can I borrow your mouth for a bit, Celestine? I want to speak.>


    <Huh? You can do that?> She replied.


    <I don''t know. Let''s find out.> I said and started my attempt to pull more control of her mouth. First I found the senses of feeling and taste in her mouth. Then I focused on more control. In order to use the mouth, I needed control of the lips, jaw, tongue, and throat of course. But there''s more. I need to control the breathing as well. It took some feeling around, but bit by bit I was able to take control. And the process ended when I took a deep breath, which spooked Mother.


    "This is Novos, I borrowed control of speaking for a bit to add to the conversation. Mother, do not worry, I asked Celestine first." I started off like that. Mother seemed to want to relax, but her body betrayed her and she was shaking. What the hell happened upstairs?


    The old man wanted to speak, but I interrupted him. "First of all, please define #&%##!. It''s a new word Celestine doesn''t know."


    "She would know it if she paid attention during sermons." Mother mumbled.


    "A #&%##! is a collection of suns in the cosmos. We can see them in the night sky and we believe we are also within one." The old man said.


    So galaxy then. "What did you mean by the age of souls and this cycle?" I asked.


    "Souls have an age, of course. Usually they die with the body. But when an individual does something of significance, the gods may reward them by pulling their souls and placing them into a new body and clearing their memories. These souls retain their strength gained in the last life and are allowed to keep growing should they desire such. Our church Founders developed the robes and awakening ceremony to determine the age of a soul." The old man said.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    I suspect there''s something else at play here. I honestly doubt these gods of theirs even exist, yes even despite the light show upstairs. But then again, I am proof in itself that souls exist and so does reincarnation. I need to be skeptical, but I cannot outright deny reality. Especially in a world where magic exists. I haven''t even seen much of the world anyway, so I don''t know what''s even outside this city. Celestine and I need to be educated.


    I was silent for a bit before I spoke of something that was mentioned previously. "What''s @^%$#&%$#?"


    "Ahh, that''s an easy question to answer. It''s the $@^$@#^ country to the north. They do a lot of mining and are the leading provider of stone and metals for the known world." The old man said. So it''s a place. So I guess there''s no need to try to translate its name. It''s Saddath. But then, what''s $@^$@#^?


    "$@^$@#^?" I asked.


    "Oh yes, I forgot Celestine is quite sheltered. Poor girl."


    "Hey!" Mother whined.


    "$@^$@#^ are beings like us, but with distinctive horns on their heads and long spindly tails. They are denizens of another world that decided to take residence in our world thousands of years ago. Saddath was a land completely unclaimed back then, so they took it. No one even wanted it anyway, so no one complained. Quite a nice people if you ask me. I met one many years ago. The historic description of their previous world is absolutely hellish. Fire, liquid rock, and the air was hard to breathe. The desert wasteland of Saddath sounds like paradise in comparison." So demons then. That''s an easy one to translate. I picked up a few new words from context clues in his description, too. Old Man seems like a stereotypical old man who, if you get him going, will drone on and on and on about nothing. He was on about how wonderful the demon women are in bed before the female acolyte struck him in the back of the head. Even Mother looked at him like she wanted to hit him.


    <Forget what he said, Celestine.> I said.


    <o-kay?> She responded.


    I coughed. "We''re getting off topic."


    "Yes! Now, back to the situation at hand." The old man said, rubbing the back of his head with red cheeks. "Sylvianna, I know you have misgivings with Daemon, but I am afraid I must insist you involve him. I don''t know what you think you were doing in preparing for Celestine''s future, but the situation has changed with Novos present."


    Mother looked down at the floor and her shoulders dropped. "I just wanted her to be able to live a normal life. I''ve been teaching her what I know so she can be a successful housewife in the future."


    "She was tested as having only a light affinity when she was born and she was in such poor health. You did what you thought was right for her future, Syl." The woman acolyte said.


    "No one could have predicted this. We need to get Jorald to reassess her now that her #$@^@# are open." The old man said.


    Celestine hand leaned over and started petting Mother''s head.


    "#$@^@#?" I asked, still in control of the mouth, but not the full body. Celestine was still petting Mother, which probably looked weird. A half-naked child petting a fully grown woman in a white tank top with thin straps and a knee-length skirt. Seems while we were sleeping, Mother went home and got changed.


    "The #$@^@# is the method by which magic is performed. It''s hard to explain without needing to define a word every so often. But you can think of it as a path by which magic power flows from the gods to allow people to perform magic feats." So conduit then? That is a good description. "Every person''s conduit is different. Some are wider, which allows more power to flow to the body, and some are so narrow a person can have difficulty even performing a simple light spell. Conduit width is decided at birth, so to stop children from hurting themselves with magic, we bind their conduits shut shortly after birth and don''t open them until they are of age. When Celestine was born, her conduit was identified to be very small. And with such a common affinity, there wasn''t much of a future for her." The old man explained.


    "Affinity? I think I understand the word, but I don''t know the meaning here." I said.


    "I''ll leave the specifics to your tutor. Daemon will likely hire one as soon as he hears of the awakening. I''ve never been a good teacher, so I should probably just stop for now."


    "You''re an excellent teacher, head priest!" The yoga pants acolyte behind him shouted.


    "Quiet you." He reprimanded her. "We''ll leave you be with Sylvianna to get dressed. You probably want to get out of that bed. I''ll send word to Daemon to expect you, but I will leave explanations up to you." The old man looked to Sylvianna. "Swallow your pain, Sylvianna. Whatever history you have with that man, you need to set it aside and think of your daughter''s future."


    "Yes, head priest." Mother said weakly.


    "I''ll have Jorald meet you by the door of the church so he can reevaluate Celestine. Now, if you''ll excuse me." The old man said before turning to leave.


    "Wait!" I shouted. "What happened during the ceremony? You never mentioned anything about that."


    "If you want to know, Novos and Celestine, I will leave it to your mother to decide if you can be told. The way I see it, it''s better left untold to a four year old." He walked out of the makeshift room and I could hear the tapping of his feet and cane going upstairs followed by the t-shirt man and the yoga pants woman, presumably.


    "Well..." I murmured, "I supposed it might be?" I turned to Mother and she nodded solemnly in response.


    A short moment of silence passed before I spoke again. "Mother, can we get ready to leave? Sitting in a sweaty bed isn''t too comfortable. And we''re thirsty. I''ll give control of the mouth back to you now, Celestine." I said aloud so Mother would know. I recoiled my control of the body and I felt Celestine''s control restore with little effort. Seems I will never be able to force her to do anything without her permission. She holds too much control in the body. Makes sense since it''s her body and all. But maybe in desperate times I might be able to force control with enough willpower...


    She just kept petting Mother while she looked at the floor dejected. I already made the connection that this Daemon fellow is Celestine''s yet to be introduced father. I wonder what he did to Mother to make her so reluctant to deal with him. A few bits and pieces in the lives of Mother and Celestine started to make sense now. Every opportunity she had, Mother was trying to teach Celestine housework in some capacity. Whether it be cleaning, organizing clothes, sewing, cooking, and shopping. She was preparing the weak girl for life as a housewife to any man who could support her without her lack of talents holding her down. And if she couldn''t find a man, she could easily use her teachings as a maid. A somewhat dismal future, but at least it would have been her best shot at a stable life. Truly what other avenues are open for a girl in this city if she is so weak in magic power? Just like geniuses born on Earth. For every one person of talent and skill, you can be certain tens more are carving out a simple life in the shadows of society. I know, I was one of them.


    I wonder who this Daemon fellow is, though. Perhaps he''s the source of the weekly money purse?


    Mother snapped out of her stupor and started to take care of Celestine. She wiped her down with a wet rag, changed her sweaty underwear, and dressed her in her sundress. Mother also put on the sandals that had been left at home previously. All the while Celestine felt like Mother was taking extra care to see if she was injured anywhere. She had to constantly answer that she was okay. ''Does this hurt?'' ''No momma, I''m fine!'' repeated about ten times before they were ready to leave. Mother was carrying Celestine on her right arm while holding the white ceremony robe with her left. We ascended the stairs and made our way to the front entryway of the church.


    Now upstairs, we stopped in front of Charcoal Man as he was sitting on a stone bench by the doors.


    Celestine''s eyes were on the rest of the church though. The artwork that once adorned the ceiling was charred black with several gouges where the sun could shine through. The damage looked much worse than in the dream, confirming it was a dream. Some light crystal chandeliers were missing, stone turned to rubble, and a pillar was being supported, with magic presumably, by several very tired and sweating acolytes while shirtless muscly workers try to pack stones under the damaged section to support it. Murals on the walls were blackened, the floor under the central stage was cracked. Crystals were embedded in the stone pews, stained glass art was shattered. It was like a bomb went off.


    "Celestine! Sylvianna! The head priest told me you were ready to leave for Daemon''s place." Charcoal Man said. I could feel Mother''s mood drop like a rock. "Well, before you leave I need to recheck Celestine." He stood up off the stone chair. "Have a seat Celestine and this won''t take long."


    Celestine did as he said and took his spot on the stone bench. She looked over to Mother as her eyes were glued on her.


    Charcoal Man approached. He placed a rough hand on Celestine''s head and the other on her belly. Unlike when he was observing us in the bed the night before, I felt something pour from him. It was like a rush of cold water. It made Celestine shiver. The chill started from his hand on her head and followed down her spine. It gathered at her gut before it dispersed and splashed out to the tips of all of her extremities, following her bones. The feeling ended shortly after the rush of cool water returned to her belly and exited into the man''s hand.


    "Her conduit is still the same. But her affinity is now %#&#%&#@$%. But there was more. Ohhh this is exciting!" His hands were still on Celestine. His black eyes bore into hers and it was like they were stopping her from moving. "There was another conduit mixed in with hers. It was like I scanned two people at once. This conduit is enormous! Wider than even the head priest''s! And it had an affinity I couldn''t identify!" His hands finally left Celestine''s body and she exhaled a breath she didn''t know she was holding. Charcoal Man started to spin around like a child who just got a new toy. It was so creepy for a man like him to do that. "Ohh Sylvianna, please bring her here more often! I want to watch her growth!"


    "W-we''ll see, Jorald. Can we go?" Mother said, picking Celestine up off the bench.


    "Hmm? OH, of course! Don''t want to hold you up anymore! Hmmm hmm hmmm~~" He started skipping to a side room that, from this distance, looked like an office with a wood desk. WOOD! Holy crap it does exist in this world!


    NO! STOP MOTHER! I WANT TO SEE THE DESK!


    And we left to parts unknown.

 Chapter 8

    Mother carried Celestine a bit before she put her down on her own legs to walk along side her the rest of the way. We were in an area of the city Celestine had never seen before. The roads weren''t just hardened sandy dirt. They were sandy cobblestone. The buildings were taller and better kept. There were metal poles by the side of the roads that resembled streetlights, but were obviously not on during the daytime. A few people passed by us in really expensive looking fabrics. One even had a look of disgust when he saw us. Well fuck you too, guy. I''ll remember your face and get you back one day!


    We turned a corner onto a larger street and stayed off to the side while wooden carts were being pulled by some ostrich-looking birds with long necks and long legs. More wood! Celestine''s eyes were glued to the novelty of the material. Most of what she''s seen are carts made of bone and rigid cloth. It''s amazing how ingenious people can be when they lack a material as depended-upon for modern society as wood.


    Guiding the bird thing from the cart with leather leads was a man with weird looking ears and a collar on his neck. His ears looked almost like dog ears and his hair covered a lot of his head, face, and arms. The guy even had a bushy tail! Where am I? This is like we were brought into another world! Up until now Celestine had only seen humans. But today we were already made aware of demons and now this dog-man. What else is there in store for us in this world? Elves? Mermaids? Who knows! I''m excited now!


    As we got further into more opulent buildings, the terrain began to change. The road was still the same, but in the front yards of a lot of really beautiful houses was greenery. Gardens and grasses decorated a lot of yards and walkways. People were out and about with still more decorative clothing. The men wore fancy leather coats and the women wore dresses with a lot of lace and embroidery. The mother and child pair were sticking out like a sore thumb. Even Celestine noticed how plain she was dressed compared to the other people in this area of the city. They were all sweating, though, so at least no one was blessed with anti-heat magic like the head priest was earlier. The women were waving fabric fans and held parasols while the men wore wide-brimmed hats. Fashion clearly took priority over comfort in this area of the city.


    We seemed to reach our destination. Mother stopped in front of a metal gate. She casually opened it and had Celestine follow her inside. The gate was surrounding a, frankly, ugly box-shaped mansion. There were two stories with windows for each room, but the building itself lacked any imagination in terms of architecture. Sure it was better than our simple stone house, but this was a mansion. There''s no excuse when you build a mansion! Not only that, but the grass, bushes, and flowerbeds in the front yard were all dried and dead. Whoever lived here obviously doesn''t care about appearances. They also don''t have much in the way of protection. Most of the other better-kept houses we passed at least had a guard by the fence if they had one.


    Mother reached the front door and knocked hard. Immediately a man with brown hair and brown eyes opened the door. His hair was a mess and he had bags under his eyes. His face was moist like he just got done shaving. He was wearing a gaudy green blazer and green pants. They appeared to be made out of some kind of reptilian leather because they were covered in little circles like scales. The man had a wily appearance and as soon as he opened the door, his face broke into a wide smile. His eyes also seemed to water a bit like he was about to cry. But he seemed to have at least a little control over his emotions.


    "Syl! An acolyte said you were coming! It''s so good to see yo-" The man tried to reach for Mother to hug her, but he was met with her foot planted square between his legs. MOTHER! Don''t teach this to your daughter! My past male lives are weeping! Also a few of my female lives are giggling. What the fuck. Did I ever do this?


    Wait, when was I ever able to hear my past lives like they were an audience. Oh my god that''s creepy. Be quiet you lot! Now''s not the time!


    "Please... come in..." The man said, backing up with his face beet red while holding back the urge to drop to the ground. He really was crying this time.


    Mother casually walked into the mansion and Celestine followed, wanting to stay in her shadow. The inside of the mansion was GORGIOUS. Beautiful polished white stone floors, intricately carved darkwood wood walls, gold-colored metal detailing, and light crystal wall sconces. The furniture was wooden-framed with dyed leather cushions. The doors to other rooms were wood and the staircase was stone and wood banisters. This might not be a castle fit for royalty, but is it certainly a place a very rich family lives. Shame about the front yard and the boring building design, though.


    Mother and Celestine sat on one of the leather couches with their back to the wall. In front of them was a wooden coffee table, or would be a coffee table if there was coffee in this world. I don''t know if there is, though. The new greenery today kinda proved that everything isn''t totally lifeless here. But then, I guess I should have realized that by the greens in Celestine''s food, too. Never mind that.


    The man in green leather and messy hair limped over to an armchair opposite of the table in front of us and sat down. Everything was silent for a while. Mother simply crossed her left leg over the other and crossed her arms over her chest, looking at the man like he was dirt. Celestine just looked uneasily back and forth between the two. The man had a seriously troubled expression. His mouth was twitching and he was sweating, which shouldn''t happen because it''s actually rather cool inside the mansion. His legs were twitching slightly from the residual pain.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Something else I noticed was the lack of servants. A house like this, you would expect at least a butler to answer the door. But instead, this man, who is clearly the house head, opened the door himself. And he didn''t take offense to Mother''s cheap shot. He''s acting like he deserved it. What''s the history of these two now?


    "Umm..." Celestine was the one to break the silence, but she was interrupted by Mother as she took control of the conversation with a cough.


    She sighed and placed her hand on Celestine''s head. "Daemon, this is Celestine. My daughter." She patted Celestine''s head and turned to face her. "Celestine, this is your worthless father, Daemon Tanett." She put extra emphasis on the surname and he seemed to flinch when she said it.


    "She really does have my eyes. And my mother''s nose!" Daemon murmured while he looked Celestine up and down.


    "Father?" Celestine asked, even tilting her head at the sudden revelation.


    Daemon seems to have broken. He sighed deeply and fell forward out of his chair. Mother ignored him.


    "What''s a father?" She asked Mother. Of course, she''s a sheltered girl of four of this world''s years of age, which equates to roughly seven or eight of Earth''s years I think. Still haven''t figured out how time compares to Earth. Anyway, she''s lived only with Mother. She has no idea what sex is or how babies are made. She knows men and women are different, but she''s still too innocent to know exactly how. They''re not going to have ''the talk'' right here, are they?


    "Let''s just say... I couldn''t have had you without his help." she put disdain in her voice when she mentioned him. "Then he left us all alone. He''s really an awful man, isn''t he, baby?"


    "I guess?" Celestine was still confused. But when she said that, the man on the floor flinched like he was just shot. If words were arrows, hers just pierced his heart.


    "Sylvianna... you''re so cruel!" He whined.


    "I don''t want to hear complaints from you, Daemon."


    "What happened to the Sylvianna I knew growing up?"


    "Oh she''s still here. You will never see her again, though." She spoke in an almost singsong voice.


    "What''s going on?" Celestine asked, still confused.


    "Quiet, baby. Momma''s talking to a scumbag." Mother replied.


    He flinched again, another arrow to his heart.


    Mother raised her voice, "You will raise the weekly @%#$#&*^ so I can better prepare my daughter''s future, Daemon."


    "OUR daughter!" He got up on his knees.


    "MY daughter!" She shouted. Celestine had never heard Mother yell so loudly before. "You gave up all rights when you left to ^@@$ those sisters and left me in the slums in a strange city with her in my belly!"


    "But I''ve been paying for everything for her and you! You haven''t had to work a day since she was born!"


    "Hmph, that''s not how I remember it, scum. I was forced to live on what little I had until I begged the Church to intervene after those $#^&@ skipped town and left you with your little mistake."


    "You lie! You''re lying to our little girl!" He cried.


    "MY LITTLE GIRL!"


    "Celestine! Listen to me! It''s not as bad as she said!" Is this man groveling to a child? He pushed the wooden table out of the way and kneeled in front of her. "Please listen. Let me make it up to you! Toys, clothes, food, anything!" He crawled up to her legs and tried to hug them before Mother''s foot planted square onto his face and forced him back. She then held her hand in front of her and a bolt of electricity arched from Mother''s hand and struck Daemon''s already messy hair. He convulsed for a bit before he fell over with smoke coming off of his head. He was still breathing, so he wasn''t dead.


    "You so much as touch her and I will cut them off!" She put emphasis on ''them''. Daemon''s hands instinctively gripped between his legs. Celestine was still confused, but was dazzled by whatever Mother just used to zap the man.


    He returned to his knees, waddled past Celestine and stopped in front of Mother. "Live with me! Please! Let me make everything up to you, Syl!"


    Mother''s hand was held out in front of her again and little sparks of lightning were arching between her fingers.


    "PLEASE! I BEG YOU! SYLVIANNA!" He fell forward and hugged her legs. She zapped him, but he held on with a vice grip. "I''m going mad! I can''t even hire servants because they refuse to work under me! I won''t ask your forgiveness! I''ll give you your space! I''ll give you both anything you need, no not need, want! Just live here with me!"


    "Hmph. I do feel sorry for whatever spawn of yours has had to put up with you." Mother looked over and up the stairs. Celestine followed her gaze and there between the banisters was the face of a boy with bright blond hair and blue eyes looking down at the idiocy happening in the room below. "I''ll consider it, Daemon. But I won''t live here for free. I won''t give you a reason to say I owe you anything. I suppose I will work as the house maid."


    Daemon noticed the boy and jumped up to his feet. "Sullivan! Look at what Dad brought home! Two beautiful black-haired flowe-RRRRRRRRZZZZZZZ" Mother zapped him again. He fell to the floor and the blond boy disappeared. "I missed your tough love, Syl..." He whimpered on the floor.


    "You will hire a tutor for Celestine. The church gave you the details." Mother said.


    "Ah yes. I already sent a letter for one before you arrived. An old friend owes me a favor anyway. Though I do wonder why the church allowed the awakening ceremony early." He was still on the floor, eyes closed. "I won''t pry, though. Ahh, my soul feels lighter already. Or perhaps the shocks are messing with my heart."


    Celestine just sat on the couch beside her mother all the while, still confused as ever.


    <I''m sure Mother will tell us the full story when you''re older, Celestine.> I said in her mind.


    <I-I''m not sure if I even want to know.>

 Chapter 9

    The next day, Celestine''s life completely changed. Within a week, Mother and her were both moved into the box mansion in an unused wing of the building, on the opposite side of where Daemon and his son, Celestine''s half-brother Sullivan, had their rooms. Celestine''s wardrobe expanded from the simple dresses to a wide array of fancy dresses, shirts, and skirts made of much softer material than she was used to. Her bone-framed fur bed from their house in the slums was replaced with a fancy 4-poster bed with a mattress stuffed with down. The whole mansion was cooled in a similar manner to the church.


    Each expensive building is outfitted with a special crystal that gathers magic energy out of the environment, according to Mother. These crystals are usually hidden in the attics. You can think of them as a sort of solar powered battery. It provides power to other crystals within the house for various things like light crystals, cooling air crystals, and pulling water from the basin in the basement for various things like drinking and baths. The crystals are connected to tiny strings that are built into the walls, but in the case of the church''s basement, were visible along the stairs. Crystal artificing. It''s not a branch of magic in itself, but a means of using certain magical abilities without the need of a caster. Normally with crystals, simply channeling power into them will allow them to function. The simplest and cheapest is a light crystal that even someone with no magic talent whatsoever can use, for example. Something so simple is usually all someone living in the slums needs. The crystals that absorb magic out of the environment are incredibly rare, though, and are only bought by very well-to-do people or organizations. High luxury. When powered by this crystal, even someone who can''t use magic, like Celestine, can use them.


    I say she can''t use magic because even though she went through that ceremony, she has yet to have any training. During the next year, Mother has kept her under lock and key while teaching her how to read and perform basic arithmetic, something she would have taught her when she was maturing, but with nothing better to do she decided to start early. Celestine struggled on learning how to read. I struggled along with her and together we learned how to read the language of this land. This opened up a whole new frontier for Celestine, fiction. Most of her free time was spent sitting in Daemon''s library reading novels about heroes and adventuring.


    It was during this time I finally discovered how long a year was in this world. Five hundred and twenty-eight days. Each year is split into four huge months of one hundred and thirty days where the last month of the year is extended by eight days where those days are part of the year end festival. Celestine was born in the fourth month on day one hundred and fifteen. Of course, it''s still hard to tell how the year lengths compare to Earth though. The thought occurred to me after discovering the year length. I have no idea how long a day is here. They do split the day up into something like hours, but there''s no way to know if they are the same length as hours on Earth, they likely aren''t. My ''sent to another world'' fantasy fictions on Earth never prepared me for this! Basically Celestine, at five of this world''s years of age, looks more like a nine or ten year old on Earth. And I can never be sure how it compares to Earth because I have no way of properly comparing the passage of time. I don''t even know if humans on this planet age like they did on Earth. My head hurts, hold me Mother~


    Speaking of Mother, she really did take the role of maid. She wore a nondescript black dress that reached below her knees with white apron over top, then went to work cleaning up the place, cooking meals, and attempting to bring the front and backyard back to life. Strange thing though, after word got out that she was working there, she was able to hire other help. All men, though. No woman seemed to want to even look at this building. Did you spread some nasty rumors of Daemon while we were living in the slums, Mother? Mother hired a full time cook and a dedicated gardener. Both men were provided staff quarters on the bottom floor while everyone else lived upstairs.


    In one of the rare moments where Celestine was alone with Daemon, he told her what he did for a living. He was an apothecary. He brewed potions and made pills. Nothing magical I think. Much of his work is making remedies for heat illnesses and pills for general sickness. Though he also ships huge crates of... something every month that he said was a secret.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    She also got closer to her half-brother, which she took an almost unhealthy liking to. The poor boy was so shy his own shadow probably scares him. Sullivan Tanett. Soft blond hair and dull blue eyes. Looks nothing like Daemon. Despite the rough treatment Mother gives Daemon, she is very kind to Sullivan. She even included him on the reading and arithmetic lessons. Celestine got so close to him she even calls him ''Bubby.''


    A full year of living in luxury, learning to read, and playing with her shy little brother. On one ordinary day, though, someone knocked on the front door and Celestine just so happened to be sitting on the red leather couch in the main hall reading a book. Daemon was working in his shop, lab, workplace, whatever you want to call it, which was close to the front door, but he didn''t seem to hear the door. Mother is upstairs cleaning. So that left Celestine to answer it.


    She placed the book she was reading, an odd story about fairies, and walked over to open the door. Pulling the heavy door open, there stood a boy that looked maybe a year older than she was. On his head was thick brown hair and two droopy flaps where his ears should have been. Waving behind him was a tail of similar color to his hair. He looked her up and down with his golden eyes and smiled.


    "Sylvianna! It''s been too long since I''ve seen you!" The dog boy pushed his way through the door and wrapped his arms around the confused Celestine.


    "Uhm, uh uh uh..." I think he broke her. Her face was hot and that wasn''t just because the front door was open to the heat of the desert day.


    He released her and pushed her in front of him, but held onto her shoulders so he could study her face.


    "Hmm, what happened to your eyes? Weren''t they green last I saw you?"


    "Warran, what are you doing to my daughter?" Mother''s voice was above Celestine. The dog boy looked up, his floppy ears moving with his head. The only thought I can hear in Celestine''s head is ''cute cute cute cute''.


    "Whoah, Sylvianna! There''s your green eyes! You apes sure grow fast. So where is the daughter of Daemon he wanted me to train? $^@#@$#@ wouldn''t give me a place to bug out before I agreed to teach his little brat."


    "You''re grabbing her." Mother said, placing her hand on Celestine''s head.


    "Oh?" The dog boy leaned in close. Too close! Too close! Celestine could feel his breath on her face as he looked into her eyes. "Well I suppose she does have his eyes. Not much else of a resemblance, though. When the hells did you two get it on?"


    "Eeeeeeeee...." She quietly chirped. Too close. Celestine was struggling to get out of his grip. Mother noticed her bright red face and struck the dog boy''s head before he took a step back. Celestine fell back and tried to hide under Mother''s apron.


    "I want to say it was the worst decision I ever made, but that''s not fair to her. Take the bad with the good, I suppose. I wouldn''t change it if I could. Not when I have her."


    The boy stood rubbing the top of his head where Mother hit him. "So enamored. I guess this is a mother''s love. A child changes a woman. Oh well, where''s my room?" The dog boy spoke. He had a certain way of speech, an accent that made him seem older and foreign at the same time.


    "Daemon never mentioned who was going to be her tutor. I have nothing prepared."


    "Oh, another thing I wanted to ask, what kind of leverage does that boy have over you to make you his maid?"


    "I''m doing this so I don''t have to owe him anything. Celestine isn''t even calling him father."


    "Celestine then!" The dog boy lifted the apron to see Celestine''s face. "Nice to meet you then. I''m Warran. I''ll be your magic tutor starting tomorrow." For someone to so casually touch Mother like this, perhaps this is a friend? But he looks not much older than Celestine. Do the dog people age slower?


    "That''s enough of the pretty boy act, Warran. Change back to normal. Any more blood rushes to her head she''ll faint." Mother said.


    "She got her father''s libido, I can guess that much." Warran said.


    "I''ll beat it out of her." Mother sounded scary just then.


    "B-beat?" Celestine sounded scared.


    Warran just chuckled. He drug in a few bags from outside and closed the door. "I''ll change back in private. These clothes won''t change with me and I doubt you want the little one to see something she shouldn''t."


    "There''s a spare office upstairs."


    "I''ll take it. I''m used to sleeping at my desk anyway." Warran said, hoisting the bags over his shoulders. Mother pulled Celestine and made her sit down on the couch before she grabbed one of Warran''s bags and guided him up the stairs.


    <Girl, are you even old enough to look at boys like that?>


    <Cute cute cute...> She repeated.


    I''m starting to see why she''s so close to Sullivan. <Maybe Mother does need to beat you a little.>


    "Eee, no, no beating!" She turned and buried her face in the couch.

 Chapter 10

    Today Celestine was standing outside in a white sleeveless top and teal skirt that reached just short of her knees. Her skin was really pale, a consequence of her being a couch potato over the last year. A thin layer of sweat was already forming on her arms and brow. She''s going to be as bright red as a tomato after this.


    She was standing in the back yard. A stone wall rose up higher than she was tall encompassing the yard. Green bushes, grass, and stone decor were featured prominently around the bottom of the wall. A huge field of grass made up the rest of the yard. Along the side of the mansion were flower beds with strange plants that I think are a kind of cactus. The gardener that Mother hired really did manage to bring the greenery back to life on the property. But he wouldn''t be able to do anything about the heat. The white sun is as unforgiving as ever.


    Standing in front of Celestine is an old man with brown hair with stripes of gray mixed in and sharp golden eyes. He had quite a few wrinkles on his face, but he stood tall. He looked similar to a fifty year old man on Earth. Poking out of the side of his head were long pointed ears. These were not the refined pointed ears you might see in a Tolkien film. These pointed ears must have been half a foot long and they pointed up at a forty-five degree angle from his head. His facial features were sharp and his slightly pointed chin, that would look comical if it wasn''t on a real person''s face, was his second most defining feature aside from the ears. Thin wisps of, what I guess were supposed to be, a brown beard dangled from his chin. He was wearing a sleeveless tank top and shorts, giving him a lazy uncle''s appearance. You''d expect someone dressed like this to be sitting indoors all day watching TV, not out actually enjoying the day. His yellowed skin, without an ounce of a tan, was proof he was not an outdoors man. But strangely he wasn''t sweating.


    He clapped his hands and spoke. "Now, let''s get to starting your training." He reached into a bag he had laying on the ground behind him.


    Celestine just looked at him with annoyed eyes and she uttered the single syllable, "huh?" loud enough he should be able to hear. But that''s right. Huh? What happened to the dog boy from yesterday? Wasn''t he supposed to be her teacher?


    The elf man''s ear twitched when she spoke. He stood back up without grabbing anything from the bag and looked back at her. "Oh yeah. I need to reintroduce myself, don''t I? I''m Warran. The handsome young man you opened the door for yesterday. This is what I really look like!" He spread his arms wide with a smile.


    It got so quiet I swear I could hear Mother upstairs giggling at the spectacle. I can''t even imagine the face Celestine must be making right now. Her mouth had dropped open and her eyes were wide before she cried out, "Haaahh?"


    "Sorry your first crush turned into an old man like me. Shape-shifting! It''s the pinnacle of restructuring magic. Marvel at it! Now back to the matter at hand." He leaned back over and started rifling through the bag again.


    "H-huuh?" Was all she responded with.


    <Not even going to deny it, huh?> I said in her head.


    <Novos. *sniff* I gained a reason to live one day and my heart was shattered the next! I wanna die!>


    <You''re reading too many romance novels...>


    <WOE IS ME!> She fell onto her knees and pounded at the grass with her clenched fist.


    <You''re five! Romance should be the last thing on your mind!> I shout to her to try to get her out of her stupor.


    <I''ll never love again! The world is so cruel! Wahhhhh> She was actually crying on her hands and knees.


    <You''re pathetic...>


    "Girl, stand up. I have other things to do today. I need to earn my room and board while I''m here and to do that I need to tutor Daemon''s sorry seed. That''s you." Warran was annoyed now. Was he even going to be a proper teacher with that attitude?


    Celestine slowly stood back up, pulled a handkerchief out of her skirt pocket and wiped her eyes.


    "Now, your mother told me what your affinity is. We''ll get there eventually, but we should start with some basics. Eyes up! Pay attention girl." Celestine''s gaze had fallen to the ground when he was talking. His shout made her reluctantly look back up at Warran.


    He continued, "Every being in this world has access to a conduit. You might be thinking about the awakening ceremony at the church. I don''t know what you did to make them perform the awakening early, but good job. Staying restricted like that would only stifle your growth. Children elsewhere are not bound in such a way. It''s a consequence of how isolated this city is from other humans I suppose.


    "A magic conduit is a path by which we can pull power from the heavens and perform feats called magic. How much you can do and how powerful of a spell you perform is always going to be determined by your conduit''s width. The wider a conduit you have, the more powerful the spells you perform will become. But this comes at a cost. It becomes much more difficult to control the spells. The smaller a conduit, the weaker the spells you can perform, but the more control you have. Remember, just because you have a small conduit, it doesn''t mean you are useless. With your affinity, you will become a very important person one day. Especially with me as your tutor! Feel honored!"


    Okay, this is a lot to take in. A lot of what he just said is contradictory of what Celestine was told by the church and even by what Mother told the acolytes a year ago from our memory. We shouldn''t take anything said at face value, especially when religion is involved. I need to take in everything he says, couple it with what we experience when she actually performs magic, and come to my own conclusion. The crystals in the house are a foundation of what I could use to base this on. It''s fairly obvious magic isn''t powered by the sun because the crystal still gets powered at night from what Mother told us. Magic in this world has to have some kind of source. It can''t just be some mystical force from the heavens. And it''s not like in stories or games where there''s a mana pool of power that collects in your body to draw on. It seems as long as your conduit is large enough, any phenomenon is possible for as long as you desire it, right? Is that what he means?


    "Now, onto the next bit. There are several schools of magic. Three schools that anyone is capable of learning with enough practice. These are called common schools. There are also three rare affinities that can only be learned by those with the affinity for it. We call these the rare schools. When someone is identified as having an affinity to a certain school of magic, it means they are gifted in that certain school. While someone needs to have an affinity with a rare school in order to practice it, they don''t need any affinity at all to perform feats with the common schools. Though if you are born with an affinity to a common school, it helps you learn and perform with it easier.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "The three common schools are: light, which is the ability to manipulate light obviously; elementalism, which can be split up into different sub schools of earth, fire, air, and water; and the spacial school, which allows you to pick up objects from a distance and manipulate them with magic. These are the three I have been told to teach you the basics in. Just so you know, human children in other parts of the world learn how to use magic in at least the light school by the time they''re two years old. So you''re already behind, girl.


    "The three rare schools are: identification, which allows the practitioner to use magic to identify objects and details about people within his view; restructuring, which allows for phenomena like healing, repair, and shape-shifting, this is the school I have an affinity for; and finally enchanting, which is your affinity. It allows the user to imbue objects with magic of the common schools. I don''t know much about the details of this school, so I can''t teach you much. It''s the school responsible for making the various crystal tools we use on a daily basis."


    He clapped his hands loudly to get her attention. It seemed like she was more focused on waving her hand at her face to try to cool down. She didn''t even think to bring one of her sun hats with her. "Now. Before we do anything dangerous like practicing elementalism, we will start with light magic. The most damage you could do with light magic is throw it into someone''s face and blind them for a bit. And don''t even think about it. It''s not a fun prank if it hurts someone."


    He walked up closer to Celestine, grabbed her hand, and placed something in it. She looked up at him, he was so tall. It only reminded her of the loss of the cute dog boy all over again. He lifted his hand away to reveal a light crystal. Celestine held it between her fingers and held it up to her eye to see through it. It was clear as glass, but had a somewhat rough texture.


    "Your homework. I cannot teach you how to channel magic from your conduit, it is something everyone must learn on their own. Like taking their first drink. You have been starved by the church''s silly traditions, so it shouldn''t take long to figure out. Now, bring me that crystal lit up and we will continue the lessons. No cheating." He lightly tapped her head with his knuckle before he walked back to his bag, hoisted it over his shoulder, and walked back inside, leaving Celestine standing in the hot sun to contemplate everything he told her.


    She lightly rubbed her head with her free hand where he knocked on her skull and held the crystal with her right hand. Her hair was hot from the sun, but she didn''t mind it. She just studied the crystal. It looked like a piece of clear quartz with an opaque bottom that you would sit down on a table so the light could disperse evenly from the clear part of the crystal. What was the purpose of the opaque bit? Celestine knew from experience with the crystals in the mansion that they don''t get hot, so there was no worry about the light damaging furniture. There was a metal band around the base.


    <Let''s go inside and try to light it. You''re going to sweat completely through your clothes at this rate.> I said to her, pulling her attention from the object.


    <Hum? Oh, right.> She wiped the sweat off her brow, tossed the salty water off her hand into the grass, and trotted inside. She was stopped by Mother to use the device that cleaned her body of sweat and gave her a light drink of water before she was allowed to go to her room. That device, now that I am looking at it more carefully, had a crystal in it of similar design that she put her lips on. The crystal was blue and smooth, but it still had an opaque base with a metal band around it.


    Now sitting on Celestine''s bed, she was still staring at the crystal like just looking at it right will make it light up in her face. It wouldn''t. There was something missing. She was trying to put strength into the hand holding the crystal, but other than acting silly, nothing happened. She got bored of this quickly and was about to give up and goto the library to read again.


    <Stay sat down and concentrate, Celestine.>


    "But nothing is working!" She growled and fell backward onto the bed.


    <There has to be something. Think about what he said.> I said.


    "Muuuuuh, I wish he stayed as a cute dog boy."


    I sighed in her head. I wish I could hit her for thinking about that. That''s not the issue right now to be worried about. I''ll just ignore it for now. If she''s like this now, how will she act when her hormones are in full swing?


    I gave her a few more minutes of staring blankly at the crystal before I spoke up again. <Maybe there''s something within your body you need to find. Like Warran said, you''ve been reconnected to something you haven''t had since birth. Do you feel any different than you did a year ago?>


    <That was too long ago! I don''t remember. I know you weren''t there.>


    <I was there, I was just watching you.>


    <What about you, Novos? Did the awakening change anything that you noticed?>


    <Well...> It actually did. I have much more control than I used to have. Before when I was in her body, I was more of a passive observer, only able to change anything when she was unconscious. But now if I will strong enough, I can actually take control forcibly. I won''t tell her that, though. I will avoid doing that unless her life is in danger. Not being in control of her own body without permission is a perfect way to traumatize her even if she fully trusts me. In fact, it would be worse to do that when she trusts me.


    But back on topic. I think back to when I was in the dream with her. In order to return to consciousness and share her senses, I feel like I have a body and there''s a current of chill water flowing through my bones at first. It was a novel experience right after the ceremony because before I was just always sharing her senses without much thought, I never had to work so hard to share her senses. But it''s become as easy as breathing for me now.


    <Celestine, give me control of your arm and hand for a bit.> I ask.


    <Hm? You want to try? Okay.>


    I feel for her arm and I notice she''s relinquished control over the limb. Over the last year we''ve gotten better at this and I can actually fully take over her body if she allows me. She always shares the senses, though, as long as she''s awake. I latch onto the control of the limb and feel the chill water pour through my body before I can move the limb as if it was my own. Celestine had sat back up on the edge of the bed and just stares in wonder as her arm moves on its own.


    <I''ll never get used to this.> She said.


    Holding the crystal in the same hand I have control over, I whisper in her head, <I wonder...> I feel carefully, I can pick up the faint readings of a sixth sense. <I''ll be damned.>


    <What''s damned?>


    <Don''t worry about it.> I sometimes use words from Earth in my speech when she doesn''t know a word equivalent. Either this language has no cuss words or the adults are doing a good job of controlling their speech around a little girl.


    I latch onto the sense and I feel a static numbness in the bones of the arm. Like a thousand particles of dust are constantly bombarding the bones, but there is not pain. It''s not even annoying and it can be ignored as easily as wind against the skin. Is this a sensation that has always been here and she just learned to ignore it?


    I can feel the particles as clear as I can see the crystal in front of me. They move of their own will and pass by as fast as they arrive. Is this the magic that Warran was saying that comes from the heavens?


    <What are you doing? I thought you were going to try to light the crystal?> She chimed in when she realized nothing was happening.


    <Celestine, do you not feel the sensation in your bones?> I asked.


    <Huh? What are you talking about? Nothing is different.> She said.


    I relinquished control. <This is something you need to find out on your own, it seems. You will sit here and concentrate. Don''t concentrate on the crystal, close your eyes and think about what magic is and where it comes from. There''s another sense in your body, like how you can taste food or smell the air. You can feel magic if you know what to sense for.>


    <I don''t wanna! It''s boring! I want to go back to reading!>


    <I''ll teach you how to play a new game when you''re dreaming if you be a good girl and do your homework.> I said. I still haven''t taught her how to play chess. It''s actually a rare treat that I appear in her dreams and help her lucid dream.


    <Okay!> She said. She put the crystal onto the bed cover, sat back in the center of the bed, and just concentrated on what I told her to do. She closed her eyes, calmed her breathing, and just concentrated on every little extremity of her body. I could almost call this meditating if Warran''s dog boy form wasn''t also on her mind. I sigh and just tap into this new sixth sense I discovered. Like tapping into her vision or sense of touch, I am not influencing anything, just observing it with her. She just needs to become aware of this sense now.

 Chapter 11

    "And this piece can move diagonally as far as it wants." I said, pointing out the bishop. I continued to point at each piece and give a brief explanation of their available movements. Finally, I pointed to the pawns. "These are special because they are the least important pieces on the board, but you cannot ignore them. If you manage to get one alll the way to the other side, you can promote it to any piece you want except for this one." I pointed to the king. "This piece is the most important piece in the game. It can move to any one square surrounding it, but it cannot move to a square that the opponent can move to and capture in the next turn. If the opponent moves to a location that can capture the piece, it is called check, and you have to move a piece to either protect it or move it itself. The game ends when you manage to corner this piece and it can no longer move or be protected. This is called checkmate."


    I was explaining the rules of chess to Celestine like I promised her I would. Surrounding us, a little safe haven I created. Sitting in her old home in the slums never really fit with the change of environment with the mansion, but the mansion still felt alien to her. So for this dream space, I decided to create full on fantasy world. Fantasy for Celestine, history for me. I went and dug through the blurred memories of my past lives to pull this beauty out. We were sitting in a log cabin in a small clearing surrounded by evergreens in the middle of the night, everything covered with snow with mountains looming in the distance. The bright white moon illuminated everything outside in a bright blue hue, the snow reflecting the light to add a dim glow. Within the cabin, we were sitting at a small table with a chess set between us. A roaring fire burned in the fireplace, creating flickering shadows that danced around the room. A couch, a table, and a chandelier, of which the candles were replaced with light crystals, hung from the ceiling. This was a home one of my lives from the 1800s recalled warmly. That life didn''t live to adulthood, as usual. But it was a comfortable life nonetheless. That''s why this place stuck out so well in my memories.


    She marveled at this place. So much she had never seen before. The mountains, the snow, the trees, almost everything here was completely new to her. Even the fire was new because there was never a need for heat in the desert city and all light needs were met with magic. Even cooking was mostly done with specially shaped crystals that radiate heat when powered.


    At least everything wasn''t a compete surprise. She knew of what fire was from the books she''s read. Things like campfires and torches. She knows what trees are despite never seeing one. Oceans, rivers, mountains, etcetera. Celestine soaked up the simple information about the natural world while I compared what I knew with what was common here. There are new kinds of trees I never heard of, but that''s to be expected in a new world. In the end, Celestine was awestruck with the scenery, but she could connect the dots and identify what a mountain and tree were.


    She watched me intently as I detailed the various little rules of chess, like how to castle by moving the rook and king once per game or showing her examples of a checkmate. I was personally never very good at chess, but knew how to play and I still liked to play it if only to pass the time or have something to start a conversation with.


    The board was set, I gave myself the black pieces and she had the white pieces. "White goes first." I said, waiting for her to move.


    "Why''s that?" She asked, unsure why one color should be the first.


    "That''s just tradition, I suppose. No real reason to it. Or we could make a reason." I shrugged. "Youngest gets white and white goes first. Or do you want me to go first instead?"


    "Naw, I''ll go." She said as she moved a pawn two spaces forward.


    We played a little back and forth. I played conservatively, trying to hold onto my pieces as long as I could and keep her pieces cornered while she tried to go on the offensive. I took a lot of her key pieces while she was trying to attack little ones like pawns.


    "You need to take your time and check ahead to see what your opponent will do next, Celestine." I said while it was my turn. "My piece here can easily take yours here," I pointed with my static finger, "with no repercussion. But you notice with me, I have these little ones set up so if you take any, my other pieces can immediately retaliate on the next turn. Chess is a game of strategy, not just how many pieces you can take. The goal isn''t the pieces, it''s to corner the king and keep options for defense occupied." After my explanation, I moved my bishop to take her rook.


    She nodded, eyes darting around the board.


    We continued like this for a few more turns in silence before I decided to start up a little conversation. "Say, Celestine, you''re old enough for this to be on your mind. What would you like to do when you get older?" I asked.


    "What do you mean?" She asked as her head turned to the side.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    "I mean like how Daemon makes money with his apothecary work and how Mother helps clean up the mansion. Like how Warran is tutoring you. The various shopkeepers selling things to make money in the city. When people get older, they have to do something to make money or generally be useful for someone to take care of them. Money buys food, water, and various other amenities."


    "Hummm..." She thought while staring at the game and moving a piece.


    I moved a piece and waited while she thought. We kept silent for a while and played our turns before she spoke up. "Check!"


    "Good. But you need to be careful." I said as one of my pieces snagged the offending bishop.


    "Muuuuu..."


    A few more turns and she was running low on just about every piece, so I moved my rooks and a bishop into place to lock her king in place and give it no chance for freedom. "Checkmate."


    She grumbled, looking over the board to see if there was any way out. When she deemed no way to escape existed, she relented. "Again!"


    "Okay, okay." Instead of just willing the pieces back to their place to reset the board like you would think can be done in a dream, I did it by hand while she helped. It was more personal this way.


    "So?" I asked.


    "I don''t know." She responded, moving the first piece, a knight this time over the line of pawns. But she made a mistake of moving it to the edge of the board, cutting off a lot of her options. I won''t mention this, though. I''ll let her learn this lesson herself.


    "Well just keep the thought in your mind. If there''s something you want to do, just speak up and we can figure out a way to make it happen. You like to read, have you ever thought of being a writer?" I asked.


    "I only like to read! Writing makes my hand hurt!" She rebutted.


    I laughed at her outburst. I hated writing too when I was living lives where I was privileged enough to be literate. "Well you''re still young. There''s plenty of time to think on what you can and want to do." I continued to play while talking to her. "For now I suppose the best option will be to just focus on your magic training. You might find something to do in that."


    "That''s boring though! I''ll never get the crystal to light up like he wants! Stupid old pointy ears! I liked him better when he had droopy ears. Waaahhhh, I hate him! He''s cruel!" She grumbled and threw a fit in her chair.


    "I''m sure there was a reason for the disguise. Why don''t you ask him during breakfast tomorrow?"


    "I HATE HIM!" She cried and pounded her head against the table.


    "I''m sure there are real dog boys out there somewhere, Tina. We did see a man with dog ears and a tail last year, remember?" I said while rolling my eyes. Of course she couldn''t see that because I had no visible eyes on this dream form face. This girl is going to be hopeless. She''s seen so many men in the village with their shirts off and never once had she had the kind of reaction she had with Warran in his fully clothed dog boy form. She even had a similar, but less lecherous, reaction when she met her half-brother Sullivan. I hope that''s just attraction to boys of her own generation and her interests change as she matures. It would be awkward having her as an adult chasing after prepubescent boys... Why is she so interested in young boys anyway? Mother hasn''t even explained to her about the birds and the bees yet.


    "It''s your turn." I spoke up as her forehead remained still on the table''s edge.


    "Novos, what do I need to do to see the world?" She asked, not lifting her head off the table.


    I thought for a bit. Really the answer seemed to be obvious to me, but there might be more to it. "Just do your best at learning magic from Warran. Then ask him yourself."


    "No, I mean, what do I have to do to see the world?" She looked up at me now. "You said Daemon does his work, Momma cleans, but is there something I can do to also see the world?"


    "I imagine merchants would move around a lot. Celestine, we don''t know enough about the world to know. You need to ask the adults more questions."


    "But you''re a Voyager! Don''t you know everything already?"


    "I told you what I know!" I said sternly before sighing. "I do not come from this world. Look outside the windows here in this dream. Even the moon is different and there is only one of them. I based everything here off my experiences on my world. All I can do is reference what I know with what we experience and learn from others here. You need to ask others with more life experience in this world than I. Mother, Daemon, and Warran are your best options in this regard."


    She picked up a piece from the game board and looked at it. The pieces were made from nondescript material and only colored different colors. Of course the shapes are based on what I remember of the standard chess set. The piece she''s looking at is the horse-shaped knight. "I got it."


    "Hm?"


    "I want to be an artist!" She shouted.


    "You have not drawn a single thing in your life." I said matter of factly.


    "I''ll learn! Daemon will buy me stuff! Maybe I can get him to buy me more if I call him Dad like Bubby! I want to paint, draw, and make stuff like this, too!" She held the knight up above the table to show it to me.


    "You know, you might end up changing the world if you make stuff from my world." I sighed. "But... that might not be a bad thing." I said quietly while thinking of the consequences.


    "Right?!"


    "Tina, there''s a reason Mother wanted to keep my existence a secret, even from Daemon. I want you to think about that. Know that if you start this path of taking things from my memory and reproducing them here, you will become a target for those that know of them."


    "That means..."


    "You will become a magnet for other Voyagers." I leaned over the table, grabbed the chess piece from her hand, and struck her on the head with the base of it. She recoiled and I put the piece back where it was. She sat back groaning and rubbing the spot on her head. "Don''t try to change the world without knowing how to protect yourself, Celestine. You start with the basics. Learn how to light that damn crystal and follow Warran''s instructions. When you have the power to protect yourself, then you can change the world."


    "O-okay."


    "Your turn." I said and we returned to our game.

 Chapter 12

    "Mrrmmrrrmmrmmrmrrrmmmm..." Celestine grumbled in bed. She woke up early and was gripping the crystal in her hand till her fingers turned white. She woke up from the dream with a renewed vigor.


    <You''re going to break the crystal before you light it. Try meditating again.> I said. There really is no difference in the feeling I can pick up in her bones. She just needs to figure out how to feel it herself and use it.


    She let out an exhausted sigh and put the crystal on the bed cover. She jumped off the bed and started to get dressed for the day. Instead of wearing a cozy lounging outfit, she started to put on a pale cyan skirt and white top with green embroidery. She topped everything off with white sandals and a white sun hat. What she wore was one of her new outfits purchased by Daemon during the last year. While her old outfits still fit her, the style of these were leagues above her old wardrobe. She and Mother got odd looks on their first trip to the mansion, but she fit right in as a child in expensive clothes like these. And they also served the purpose of keeping her cool in the hot morning sun.


    I asked. I could just glean what she is thinking by listening to her surface thoughts like I often do, but I find that actually talking to her helps our relationship. I don''t want to be known as that thing in the back of her mind that bugs her now and then, I want to be a friend.


    <I want to go out and get supplies!> She said.


    <For what?>


    <I want to make a chess set. I want to play with Bubby!>


    <Ask Mother before running out the door. She will want to come with you.> I said.


    <Awww, I''m a big girl. I can go!>


    <Do you have money?>


    <I can just tell them to send the bill do Daemon like Mom does while shopping!>


    <Ask Mother.> I said sternly. It''s like my little reprimand in the dream about needing to protect herself went in one ear and out the other.


    <It''s a secret! I want to make the set for Bubby''s birthday and momma will spoil it!> She tried to reason out of this, but like a child her reasoning is flawed.


    <Then tell her it''s a secret and have her take you with her. No more excuses, girl.> I said. She grumbled for a bit, then relented and left the room to find Mother.


    Mother wakes up even before the sun rises. It was the same in the house in the slums. She would be making the rounds to make sure the cook was awake and preparing breakfast while she was taking the clothes off the line outside. The clothes need to dry at night or the sun will bleach them.


    "Momma! Can I goto the shops and get some stuff?" She spoke cheerfully while entering the backyard to see Mother doing what she usually does.


    "Hm?" Mother turned and looked at Celestine up and down. "You''re just all ready to go aren''t you? You weren''t planning on leaving without me were you?"


    "O-of course not!" She lied.


    "What did you want anyway? We already went shopping for clothes for your birthday. Don''t get greedy."


    "It''s not that. I want to make something for Sullivan." Celestine intentionally calls her half-brother by his name when Mother is around. She learned this early on that Mother makes a strange face when she hears her refer to him as ''Bubby'', so she only calls him that when they''re alone. There''s an emotional minefield there and she doesn''t want to step on it.


    "Make something?" Mother was about to fold a pair of pants. She laid it down on the basket so Celestine could have her full attention. "What did you have in mind? A picture?"


    "It''s something Novos told me about. It''s a game." She said.


    Mother''s eyes seemed to soften when my name was mentioned. That was a nice feeling, it''d make my heart flutter if I had one. Shortly after the ceremony, when Celestine would mention me, Mother had an odd disdain in her expression. But in the year since the awakening, she seemed to warm up to me. "What kind of game?"


    "It''s a game that uses a flat play area that''s painted and different shaped pieces. It looks really neat!" Celestine replied in the best way she could. She''s still a child and a lot of words that would better describe the game, she had never heard. I mean, in a world where wood is a rarity, would you expect to hear the word for ''board?''


    "Well if you draw it, I''m sure I can have it made for you. Come on inside, let''s get some paper and you can show me."


    "No! I want to make it myself! I want to learn how to paint and carve things like all the statues in the house!"


    Mother''s face lit up like she just thought of something. I think I just saw her smirk. She''s easy to read when it comes to Celestine. Her face just screams ''maybe this will be a good outlet to get rid of her blossoming perverse side.'' I can still recall the lecture and light spanking she gave Celestine the night Warran moved in and Celestine wouldn''t shut up about the cute dog boy, who much to her despair turned out to be an old elf the next day.


    "Okay. We''ll visit the artisan shops and see what we can find." Mother said, taking off the girl''s hat and patting her on the head. "Go eat breakfast and I will get ready, okay?"


    Celestine smiled brightly before nodding and running back inside, leaving the hat in Mother''s hand.


    Breakfast was never really too important in Celestine''s eyes. All it does is fill her belly for the beginning of the day. She never asks what any of the food is. Today was a bowl of something that was the consistency of oatmeal with a side of something that looked like sausage, but wasn''t spiced with anything. Very simple, not tasty but not disagreeable. It just filled her stomach and she was on her way to do whatever she was going to do for the day.


    After she cleaned up her bowl and plate, both made of a glazed bone material instead of clay or porcelain curiously, she ran into the main hall and sat on a couch while waiting for Mother.


    A little while later, Sullivan was slowly walking downstairs in his lounging clothes while rubbing his eyes. His lounging clothes really just consisted of a loose button-up shirt and shorts.


    "Morning Bubby!" Celestine greeted him as soon as he stepped on the last step.


    "Morning Sis, why are you up so early? Going somewhere?" He asked, his eyes clearing up and looking at what his half-sister was wearing.


    "Just some errands with momma." She said, lying.


    "Ah, okay." He replied, not asking any further. If he was older, he might have doubted his sister because of her bright smile, but he was too tired and a day of lessons from Daemon probably awaited him. Daemon was working his son to exhaustion a lot in that work room. Sullivan passed by Celestine and entered the dining room for breakfast.


    A few minutes later, Daemon casually walked downstairs in his usual green reptilian leather suit. "My heart is cleansed! My beautiful daughter''s smile is exactly what I needed to see when I woke up this morning!" He declared as soon as he saw Celestine.


    Her smile disappeared immediately, replaced by a poker face.


    "And gone. WOE IS ME!" He cried. "Have a good outing with your mother, Celestine," he said before laughing a bit at himself and following Sullivan into the dining room.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    After he was out of sight, she let out a laugh she was holding. Daemon''s antics were funny sometimes, but his abrupt mood swing was what made her laugh. From comically depressed to casually amused in less than a minute. She liked the man that she found out was her father and she wanted to know why Mother held so much contempt for him, but the part of her that wanted to avoid the emotional minefield was stronger than her desire for their history. She would keep her curiosity down and wait for a time when Mother decides to tell her.


    The next person downstairs was Mother. She had changed into an outfit not unlike Celestine''s, but her skirt color was a very light brown and the embroidery on her top matched the brown skirt. It was like they were wearing each other''s eye colors. With Mother''s green eyes and Celestine''s brown. Mother had her own sun hat on and she was carrying Celestine''s with her.


    Celestine hopped up to Mother''s side. Mother put the sun hat on her head and held her daughter''s hand as they walked out the door into the heat of the day and to the shops.


    The city is pretty much separated into three parts. One large and growing part of the city was eloquently named the equivalent to ''slums'' in their language. It''s basically the residential district for the common folk and where Celestine and Mother lived a year ago. Next to that, but separated by a wide road, a less densely populated area, but populated with much more costly housing, was the area where the more well-to-do folk lived. Those who could afford to build, maintain, and pay taxes for the large houses lived in this district. It wouldn''t be a stretch to call this noble housing, but the city doesn''t have any kind of feudal nobility system. The people who lived here were usually merchants, shop owners, or artisans. This is the area where Daemon''s mansion is built and that mansion is the largest building in the city other than the church, which is situated at the center of all three districts.


    The last district, and the smallest, was the commercial district. It housed all the shops and public buildings. The shops were already open for the day. More people came in and out of the grocer shops than any of the more special shops of course. For people who didn''t have much in the way of food storage, they need to leave in the morning to shop for lunch and dinner food supplies. Daemon''s mansion has a magic icebox powered by the crystal in the attic. It keeps food at a proper temperature for preservation. A magical refrigerator. Available only for those who can afford it, of course.


    We weaved around other women who were going between grocer shops and stayed clear of the men who were laborers carrying boxes or pulling carts. This was rush hour.


    We stopped at a shop that sold parchments, charcoal writing sticks made from bones, canvas, inks, pens, and paints first. This was pretty straight forward. Go in, ask for brushes, a set of paints, and a stiff board to paint on. The board was interesting. It had the texture of papyrus. But it wasn''t just a sheet of paper. It was many many sheets of paper held together by an adhesive and pressed to make a rigid board about half an inch thick. A very nice substitute for wood board in a place where wood is a luxury. The material this board is made of must grow from either a fast growing plant or a plant in great abundance nearby.


    We left the store with Mother carrying the bag of supplies while Celestine carried the board under her arm. Their next stop was an artisan''s shop. Mother didn''t trust Celestine enough to just outright buy carving tools, so she went to an artisan first to see if she could hire a tutor. All of this was approved by Daemon of course, or if it wasn''t he wouldn''t care as long as it was something Celestine wanted. Daemon seemed to have a surplus of money. Enough he didn''t care how it was spent. It made me wonder why he never hired any guards. The mansion would be a prime target for thieves.


    They entered the shop and Celestine was wide-eyed at what she saw. There at the counter, haggling with an old man and trying to sell small white statues to him, was a man covered in red scales. Or would it even be right to call him a man? He had the upper torso of a man. He was rather skinny and his arms showed little in the way of muscle like the laborers that wander the streets. Instead of the smooth skin of a human, his entire body was covered in the scaly skin of a reptile. Pale yellow chest, front neck, abdomen, and red glistening scales everywhere else. Instead of hair, he had thousands of odd red elongated spiky scales that looked to be hair covering the top of his head. His skin wasn''t his most defining feature however, oh no. He lacked legs entirely. In place of legs, he had a huge snake-like body that was pulled up tightly behind him on the ground so as to not impede others from walking inside the shop. It wriggled and twisted in coils as if it had a mind of its own while his attention was on the contents of a bone crate he was pulling things out of to show the clerk.


    The contents of the crate were statues of various things. Other snake people, animals, and something like a horn covered with tribal-looking markings. Bone jewelery was also being pulled out of a bag and placed on the counter.


    "Duc''kaal, you know these statues don''t sell well. I haven''t even broken into the last batch you brought in. The antlers make nice mantelpieces though for tourists, but we don''t get many of those." The clerk said, eying the horn.


    "How is that my fault? The only tourists that seem to make it here these days are adventurers and that''s only with my brother''s benevolence. The only merchants that come here are here to sell grain from Hope and bring back sand. Who the hells needs to cart sand anyway? I say you need to do a better job of appealing to them."


    "They use it to make glass. The @&@%^$@^ farms in Southern Hope are very lucrative with their trade and depend the mutual trade of grains for sand. You should know that. We can''t live on meat alone like your people can. If you were making these statues for profit anyway, you would be making the trek there yourself."


    "Ahh, just give me something to complain about, man. I''m tired of my complaints going on deaf ears at home." The snake man said, running his hand through his scaly hair. Celestine caught a glimpse of his abdomen under his burlap shirt. His muscles there were incredibly defined compared to his arms.


    "How is your brother, Duc''kaal?" Mother spoke up, entering the shop and pulling Celestine in with her.


    "Hm?" The snake man looked at the new entries, squinted his eyes and then smiled. It was odd, you would have expected a snake man to have slit eyes, but his were round like humans. "Well if it isn''t Sylv. Been too long since I''ve seen you. You look smaller than when I last saw you, I suspect the reason for that is there beside you." He chuckled, "My brother''s doing well enough. His devil-spawn of a first-hatched son is giving him grief, though. I hope he can beat the boy into a man before he dies of old age. Gods know I can''t."


    "I''m sure he''ll mature. He was quite shy when I met him."


    "He didn''t know he would be heir to the tribe then. Innocence of childhood ruined by pride." He sighed. "So what''s your little one''s name?"


    Mother pulled Celestine forward and put her hand on her shoulder. "This is Celestine. Celestine, this is Duc''kaal. Brother of the Black Scale chieftain."


    Celestine couldn''t speak, she couldn''t find her tongue. Elves, okay not too different; furry dog men, they still had some human skin and look to them; but this man here looked more monster than man. And here he was talking so casually.


    "Bah hahaha!" His teeth! All of them were sharp to a point! They weren''t anything like a snake''s teeth, these looked like the teeth of a shark! He could easily kill us! "Look at her, she''s shaking. I always love the reaction you little humans have when you see us for the first time. I remember meeting Daemon''s son for the first time. Poor brat pissed his pants! You looked like you were going to go white as a ghost when you visited our village too, Sylv."


    "We had just gotten onto the land and your tribe was the first we met." Mother replied, gently patting Celestine''s shoulder and speaking with a calm voice.


    "Ahhh, memories. That''s all an old man like me has anymore. Hey, can I come visit your home one day? I would like to carve you, Sylv, now that you aren''t bloated in the belly anymore. Call it an apology gift for my rudeness at the time."


    "Actually, Duc''kaal, I was wondering, now that we ran into you, if you could tutor my daughter? She took an interest in carving and we were just coming in here to buy supplies and ask for a tutor."


    The snake man started to move. With each stride his waist made an exaggerated sway and the snake part of his body coiled to push him forward effortlessly. He came to stand in front of Celestine. He looked down at the ground. "Well she hasn''t pissed herself, so she could probably stand to be near an old man like me." He lowered himself and I saw a glimpse of something like a knee resting on the ground through his yellow underskin while he brought his head down to her level. A vestigial limb? Did he have leg bones that have fused together with his tail? The evolution of such a creature fascinated me as much as his mere presence terrified Celestine. "What do you say, little one? You want to learn how to carve bone? That''s about all that''s in this desert worth carving." He turned around to face the clerk, "even if no one wants to buy it!"


    "People want function, not form, Duc''kaal. The bloody bone crate is probably worth more than what you brought me."


    "Bah, no appreciation for art! I can''t rule the tribe so what else am I good for?" He turned back to the girl, placed his hand on her head over the sun hat and patted her head. His hand... is was warm. Not as hot as you would expect a cold blooded creature to be on this hot desert day, but warm like a human''s body heat. What is this man? "What do you say?"


    "O-o-okay. P-please teach me!" She cried back, her voice croaking between a few words from nervousness.


    "Attagirl." He rose back up to his previous height and addressed Mother. "I''ll go commission her some carving tools from a blacksmith and go back home to collect some bones for her to practice on."


    "I can pay-" Mother said before he interrupted her.


    "No need. The metal coins I get from your city are just piling up in my pocket. I need to put them back into circulation somehow." He turned to the clerk. "What are my carvings and jewelery worth, man?"


    "Without everything being glossed, it''s not worth much. I''ll give you twenty silver for everything, including the crate."


    "Tch. Fine. Whatever." He turned to Mother. "Was there something specific she wanted to make? I can look out for different bones that way. Jewelry I guess?"


    "A game!" Celestine chimed in. "I want to make game pieces for a game to give my brother for his birthday!"


    "Brother now? You sound like a nice sister to go out of your way to learn an entire craft just for a gift. But I have no right to judge. Where you two living at? I can visit to teach her after everything''s made and ready."

 Chapter 13

    The next couple of days were uneventful. Celestine was still struggling with the light crystal. Every morning when Warran would make his rounds to the kitchen for something to eat, he would ask her if she made any progress and wouldn''t press further. Letting her learn at her own pace. He did raise an eyebrow when she mentioned she would be learning how to carve at the same time, but he didn''t comment on it. So in the mornings, she would struggle with the crystal after waking up, then Mother would tell her to get downstairs for breakfast. During the rest of the day, she would seclude herself in Daemon''s library and continue to read the various works of fiction he had, most of which were odd for a man to own. A lot of romance novels that seemed more geared to young adult women if I do say so myself. At least there wasn''t one about a vegetarian vampire and a stoic reader proxy.


    She would also read with her half-brother when he had free time, too. Seems like Sullivan was always depressed right before he started interacting with her. He also spoke little, preferring to just listen to Celestine and respond with hums and yeses when pressed. Daemon''s lessons couldn''t be that rough, could they? She decided she would sit in on one of these lessons one day just so she could offer some kind of moral support if needed.


    It was on the fourth day after Mother and Celestine''s meeting with Duc''kaal that the serpentine man visited the mansion. He knocked on the door, Mother answered, and Celestine was called downstairs. She heard the commotion and was already preparing to go downstairs. Sullivan was still in the middle of his lessons with Daemon, so she had been alone in the library upstairs.


    Celestine was walking downstairs when she heard Duc''kaal talking and stopped halfway down the steps. "Sylv, imagine my surprise when you''re all living here. You moved up in the world! Though I did know Daemon was here, I didn''t think the others would disappear. My brother tells me nothing. Where did that obnoxious group of women go that lived here before?" He was talking cheerfully with Mother. He had a different air about him today and Celestine could better hear his voice. It sounded very rough and raspy. Like he needed something to drink. He was sitting on the red leather couch with his tail on the ground beside the couch coiled up and out of the way from the walking path.


    "After Sullivan was born, they all up and fled from what Daemon told me. He deserved that, if you ask me." Mother was sitting in an armchair opposite of Duc''kaal.


    "I take it the boy is one of theirs?" Duc''kaal asked, which prompted a nod from Mother. "Yet you''re here acting as maid instead of wife? Did something happen to earn Daemon''s displeasure?"


    "He earned mine." Mother worded strongly. "And I''m only doing this so he can''t turn around and say I owe him anything."


    "Hummm... OH, that''s right, you humans from Sirius prefer to stay monogamous. I''m sorry to hear about his betrayal. I shall look at him from a different light if you''d like." Duc''kaal hummed a bit and chuckled at the end. More pieces to Mother''s past are starting to fit into place. I just heard the name of a new place in this world. Adding to my repertoire. Now if only I could see a map somewhere...


    "Don''t worry about it, Duc''kaal. If he''s given more trouble I fear he might run just like the others before Sullivan''s training is complete."


    "Aye, that wouldn''t be good. If he does try to run, let me know and I can try to convince my brother to chase him down. Only so fast your two feet can carry you in the sands of the desert. Celestine! You don''t need to stand there gawking. Sit sit, we can get started right now! I bought you brand new tools and I have some specimens here to teach you with. Did you want to keep this all a secret or is it okay to just learn here in the main hall?"


    Celestine spoke while walking down the rest of the stairs. "Um, it''s fine here. It would be hard to practice and keep it secret from bu-Sullivan." She almost messed up and called Sullivan Bubby in front of Mother. She caught herself quickly though.


    "Right right." He hoisted a bone crate onto the small table between the couch and armchairs. The bone crate was loaded with all kinds of bones ranging from tusks, antlers, ribs, pelvises, and leg bones. All of them were bleached to an off white color and picked clean of any meat or other flesh. Then he lifted a metal box next to it. It was reminiscent of a tackle box from Earth, but was much larger. Not as rugged as a tool box, though. Something simple, probably cheaply made just to carry tools.


    "I''ll go prepare some tea for you both." Mother said with a smile as she stood up and disappeared into the dining area.


    "Well girl, hurry hurry," Duc''kaal said, patting the couch space next to him. Unlike in the artisan shop, the serpentine man didn''t have the monstrous air about him. He had a half-smile on his face when he looked at Celestine, his yellow eyes were droopy like he was tired, and his face would distort very slightly every so often as if something was prodding him.


    Celestine did as she was told, hopped over and sat next to him.


    "Now, let me introduce to you the bones we''ll use for carving!" He leaned over and pulled out a selection of bones that he had, at least one of each type in his crate. First he picked up a white antler. It was a nice bright white color, but it was shaped oddly, doesn''t look like it belonged to any animal on Earth, at least. "Here we have antlers. They are perfect for carving because they are solid bone. No marrow or anything to pick out and they are usually already a nice color even without needing to leave them out in the sun. Next we have horns."


    He leaned over and picked up a black horn about a hand long. "These might look promising to carve, but unlike antlers they are not solid." He turned it so Celestine could see the hollow inside. "They have marrow in them, I already cleaned this one. They make great noisemakers, though, if you hollow them out and carve them correctly. Ah, actually, I should start by saying what marrow is. Marrow is a fleshy bloody substance in the bones. It''s edible, but not something I like to be honest. It just complicates things for us bone carvers."


    He lifted up a leg bone that had been sawn in half lengthwise. He held the two halves together. "This is what a leg bone looks like before you would have a chance at processing it. After the outside is picked clean, you saw it in half with one of these." He laid the leg bone down and opened up the tool box. It was loaded with tools like little knives, picks, gravers, and files. All of the tools had bone handles. There were a lot of tools in there that I recognized and many I didn''t. He took out a tool with serrated teeth. "You use this to carefully cut the bone in half so you can get to the marrow and clean it out. After that you can leave the bones out in the sun and it will dry everything out. You pick what little you couldn''t get off of it, and then let it sit for a few weeks for the sun to do its magic and bleach the bones. Though you can use certain potions to bleach them, they leave the bones brittle and they break easily. That''s why you see all the best white looking bones used as decorations while the ones used for things like carts and crates are brown or yellow." He pointed to the bone crate, which was a shade of yellowed brown. The bones looked solid enough and they didn''t leave many gaps in the crate like you would expect. It was held together with twine.


    Mother showed up shortly and left two cups of tea for the two of them. Tea was something Celestine had gotten used to drinking while living in the mansion. She didn''t drink it at their house in the slums, but she got her first taste of it while living here. I don''t even really know if it is tea. Celestine never paid much attention to how it was made. Could be closer to coffee for all I know. I just translate the word to how the liquid tastes. Watery with a slightly bitter taste, supplemented with a bit of sugar for Celestine''s preference. Served warm and has an invigorating effect similar to caffeine.


    "Now then, this here is a rib. These have marrow, too. So you need to scrape it out. Usually these aren''t very useful when it''s a small animal, but the larger animals and monsters have huuge bones that are very useful." He put the rib bone back on the table.


    "Lastly, the sternum, shoulder blades, and pelvis. All useful for plates, knives, and other things you can think of. The larger the beastie you get the bones from, the more useful they can be. Now, bones to avoid. If you can, avoid messing with the skulls and spines of freshly killed things. Sicknesses tend to be carried from those parts of the bodies. If you find the bones long picked clean by the elements, then they should be safe to use then." He said that while pointing to the various bones. The enormous vertebrate bone he pointed to was most interesting. It looked like it could have belonged to an elephant, it was so huge. Well he did say monster several times. I guess this world isn''t as peaceful as living a sheltered life in the city was. Celestine seemed to pick up on that, too, but she didn''t want to ask about it and delay the lesson.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Any questions? Hope I''m not getting ahead of myself." He asked.


    "When can we start!" Celestine''s eyes were glued onto the antlers. Those would be perfect for making the white chess pieces and if there are black antlers like the horns, they would be good for the black pieces.


    Duc''kaal laughed and pat Celestine on the back. "So eager! But you can''t be impatient! If you work on something too fast, you make mistakes. This will be an activity to teach you patience! No giving up on me, now. I won''t allow it!"


    He picked up a notebook and some char bone, which is essentially burnt bone used for cheap writing here, and held it in front of her. "Each design begins with a drawing. When you get better you can skip this step and just carve freehand, but for anything concrete you need to make a plan! How long until your brother''s birthday?" He asked.


    "Umm, Summer 45?" Celestine said. Basically the years are divided by the seasons and numbered. Each year is made up of these huge months. Like I said, one hundred and thirty days in a month, five hundred and twenty-eight days in a year. So four months of one hundred and thirty days followed by eight days of festivities for the end of the year. Sullivan was born in the Summer month, day 45, year 1569. I don''t know what big event the year is based on, though. I''m sure we''ll find out eventually, though. Celestine was born Winter 115, 1568, by the way. So by what the conversation between Mother and Duc''kaal said, and what I already knew, Daemon must have abandoned Mother about half-way through Celestine''s gestation, that is if humans in this world require the roughly two hundred and seventy days in the womb to be born here. Opinion of Daemon is at an all time low right now.


    "Ah, plenty of time then. We''ll start with making a pendant for your mother." He picked up a leg bone and placed it in front of Celestine on the table. "We''ll make it out of the leg bone. It''s a nice hard material, so it can help strengthen your arms a bit while carving. First draw your design out."


    Celestine did what she was told and drew out a design for a pendant on the paper. Her first design was something way too complex, she didn''t even have an idea, she just scribbled out a design. Duc''kaal looked over and expectedly told her to draw it again, simpler this time. She went through three iterations of designs before Duc''kaal accepted the last one. The design was something she saw in the cabin in the dream world. It was a bear pawprint design that was carved into a wooden table.


    "Alright. Now keep that page open and take your tools." He handed her a small saw. "Cut it to size. If you mess up, we''ll start over. I have all day. Hells, I might ask for a spare room here. I''m going to teach you everything I know!"


    That caused a shiver to run down her spine, but she did as she was told. What kind of monster did her mother hire?


    She ended up spending the rest of the entire day struggling to cut the bones to size, slipping and messing up the cuts. When she finally got one to size, she failed at carving the bones. They still used the failed cut bones for practice, of course. No use in wasting them. The bones were a lot harder than she was expecting them to be. She was introduced to a bone mallet, metal gravers, small metal picks for carving details into the bones, and knives for carving away at the bone tissue. He taught her how to sharpen the knives after use and how to clean them. They ate dinner in the main hall and quickly got right back to work. In the end, little of anything was gained except the feeling of her arms about to fall off.


    Duc''kaal convinced Mother to let him use a guest room so the nightmare of today can begin sooner rather than later come tomorrow.


    Now that she was cleaned up and ready for bed, she sat on the edge of her bed performing her nightly ritual of trying to get the light crystal to light. She wanted to just go right to sleep, but I convinced her to keep trying with the promise of another night of chess.


    After a long time of trying, her body basically just gave up and she feel asleep sitting up. So I ended up making good on my promise and played chess with her again in the dream. Not before moving her body into a comfortable sleeping position, though.


    The cycle of waking up, trying to light the crystal, breakfast, bone carving, dinner, trying again to light the crystal, and sleep became her daily routine for about ten days. I''ll try to spare the details. A lot of arm pain, bleeding fingers, and she almost threw the light crystal through her bedroom window in a fit of rage.


    You might think I''m exaggerating things here, but you need to keep in mind that she is young and bones are very hard when they are dried like this. She would have picked up woodcarving by now, but the bones are much harder to work with without the upper body strength of an adult. Unfortunately wood is a commodity that cannot be easily wasted here for her to learn carving. Stone is another option, but that''s even worse for her to use.


    So that was the story for the last ten days. But on the eleventh day she finally had a breakthrough with the light crystal. In the morning after another troublesome day of bone carving, she could fully feel the sprinkling sensation on the bones in her arms. It was the only thing she could feel because her muscles were numb, but she could feel it. With some thought, she managed to manipulate the countless prickles in her bones into a stream of particles flowing from her arms to her fingers. And when she picked the crystal up, it lit up as bright as you would expect a sixty watt bulb to be when you turn it on.


    She found the will to sit up in bed and picked up on the sensation throughout her body. Every finger, toe, leg, arm, vertebrate, rib, and even her skull. Now that she knew what to feel for, she easily figured out how to manipulate the flow of energy. There''s not much I can say on the method because it was almost instinctual. Like learning how to move a limb she didn''t know she had. She now had full reign on the power flowing through her body. The pain from the bone carving lessons faded from the distraction and a bright smile was plastered on her face. She got dressed and ran to Warran''s room.


    Warran''s room was just an unused office next to Daemon and Sullivan''s rooms on the west wing of the mansion. Celestine and her Mother stayed on the east wing. The guest room Duc''kaal was staying in was also on this east wing.


    Celestine knocked on the door as hard as she could, which wasn''t very hard with her aching arms. She waited, tried again, waited, then she just opened the door to the office.


    The sun was already illuminating half of the room through the window. In the middle of the room was a huge wooden desk. Surrounding the desk were hundreds of loose papers, books, and scrolls. Celestine had never seen this much loose paper before in her life. Did he carry this all in with him when he showed up? Laying on the desk, with his arms folded up as makeshift pillows, was the upper body of an aging elf man. At least he was clothed, but the room had the smell of him already. Well, he did seclude himself in here most of the day, only leaving to eat and bathe.


    "Warran!" Celestine shouted when she saw him. He mumbled a bit, but went back to sleep. "Warran! I lit the crystal!" She shouted, walking over to the side of the desk to stand beside him, not worried about stepping on the papers on the floor.


    "Alright..." He slowly lifted and turned his head to look at the overeager girl. "Where is it?"


    "Uhm, uh..." She looked down at her hands and checked her pockets.


    "You forgot it. Nevermind." He picked one of the crystals up off his desk and held it out to her. "Light it." He said.


    She took the similar crystal in her hand and forced the energy into her fingers just like she discovered how to do. The light crystal flashed on. Celestine held it back up to him. He took it from her, then placed it back onto the desk.


    "Good job. Took you a while. But I''ll just blame the church for that." He took a deep breath and sighed while lifting his body up off the desk. A pool of drool was staining a paper he had likely been reading the night before, but he paid it no mind. "Guess I have to negotiate some time from that $%&$# now that you can channel magic. I need to start your lessons again. Daemon was getting fussy the other day about me not holding up my side of the deal." He stared off into the distance for a while before he turned to see Celestine still standing there staring at him. He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her lightly away. "Go eat breakfast. I know you''re eager, but we''ll start lessons tomorrow. I need to prepare now."


    Celestine nodded and walked to the door.


    "And close the door!" Warran shouted at her back. She did as he told her and closed the door.


    Celestine was halfway to the staircase when she moved her shoulders a bit. She lifted her arms up and opened and closed her hands. All of the pain was gone. None of the dull achy pain from just ten minutes ago was there.


    <Warran probably did something when he pushed you earlier.> I said, to stem her curiosity and to get her moving again. It really was the simplest answer. It''s not like simply channeling magic cured her aches and <Warran did say his affinity was restructuring. That''s the school that specialized in healing as well as... shape shifting.>


    <WHY DID YOU REMIND ME OF THE DOG BOY! I HATE YOU!> She cried in her head while running down the stairs cursing me in her head. I guess she was just getting over her first heartbreak and I stabbed needles into the wound, huh?


    The day continued after breakfast with her continuing her bone carving. Warran appeared in the afternoon and spoke briefly with Duc''kaal just to finalize Celestine''s new schedule. Her attention was on the pendant she was working on, though. After Warran healed her achy muscles, it became much easier for her to carve the bone. So he not only healed the muscles, he strengthened them? Or would this have happened even if he didn''t heal her? I was never one for muscle building on Earth, so I wouldn''t know.


    The bear paw pendant was slowly taking shape. She cut it to a rough shape, filed the sharp edges down, and used gravers of various sizes to carve away at the bone and to let the bear paw shape reveal itself in the bone. She managed to finish it by the end of the day after the sun had long set, but she wasn''t satisfied with it and asked to redo it, which Duc''kaal allowed but forced her to bed after they cleaned up the chips of bone on the table and floor.


    What, you thought she would just leave all that for Mother to clean up? She''s a good girl and cleaned up for Mother. Also Duc''kaal wanted to collect the scrap pieces and shavings for something. Not sure what he wants it for, but she didn''t ask.

 Chapter 14

    "Alright. Lesson 2! Now that you have figured out how to manipulate the power through your conduit, we shall begin with actually casting magic spells!" Warran began. We were outside again. Celestine hadn''t been outside since the trip to the markets to buy materials for her chess set and the hot sun reflecting on her pale skin showed. She probably needed to get out more. Maybe start sunbathing. Then she wouldn''t burn so easily. But I suspect the magic lessons will be enough to give her a tan. Warran had negotiated two hours of practice a day after breakfast from Duc''kaal while the rest of the day was bone carving.


    Celestine was looking forward to them both and opted to just sleep without dreaming that night so the day would come faster, which was hard. It''s not easy to keep her from having dreams, so I just let her be. She would forget normal dreams soon enough anyway. That was a phenomenon that still existed with the humans of this world from my observations. Humans here are very similar to humans on Earth, except for the whole magic business. I haven''t noticed any other differences.


    "We will start with the simplest of the common schools. Light magic. From what your mother told me, you were born with the affinity for light magic. But somehow when they tested you again, you switched to enchanting magic. A very nice opportunity because otherwise you would be stuck with just the common schools. But something like this is also unheard of." He trailed off when he said that before continuing. "So I want to test to see if your affinity truly switched or if something else happened." He paused for a bit, held his hand to his wispy-bearded chin, and thought for a bit.


    Celestine held her hand to her mouth and coughed loudly. She was wearing a similar simple top and skirt like the last time they were out here, but she was already covered in sweat. They were going to be out here for two hours, might as well do something to take her mind off the heat.


    "Right. Sorry. Anyway, magic begins with learning how to channel it willingly through your conduit, which you already demonstrated. Now the phenomena we know as spells are consequences of enforcing our will through the conduit onto the world around us. We gather magic into a focus, usually our hands but some people use other tools, and will the magic to do as we desire. Like how you pushed your magic into your hand to light the crystal, the crystal was just a shortcut in the process."


    He walked a bit to his bag and pulled out another crystal that Celestine had never seen before.


    "These crystals hold within them a will of their own. We extract them from the ground, bind them with a metal brace, and we feed them magic so they will enact their will." He held the crystal out to the side a bit and a jet of water flew out of the crystal and hit a bush on the other side of the backyard. "This allows us to use magic without needing to think of complex machinations in our heads to make the effect happen. The drawback is they are very limited because they only follow their own will. That''s why crystals like the one in the attic that gathers magic from the environment are so expensive. The light crystals'' wills are to simply light up and stay lit as long as they have magic to do so. So they store a limited amount of magic from the provider to follow their will. The fibers that connect the various crystals in the mansion to the energy gathering crystal in the attic are another kind of crystal. Their only will is to pass magic. This allows us to use magic without even needing to channel ourselves!"


    He put the crystal back into his bag. "Now, if we don''t have crystals, but we still want to cast magic, we must bypass them and force our own will into the magic itself. By doing so, and by passing the magic through the focus of our body or tool, we create a phenomenon, or a spell. Light is the simplest because we know what light is. We experience it from the moment we are born in this world. The only people who cannot use light magic are the blind, because they have never known light and thus cannot will it from their conduit." He held his hand out in front of him, turned his palm up, and curled his fingers slightly. Within his hand, a ball of blue light shone dimly, though overshadowed by the bright sun above. And as quickly as it came, it was extinguished.


    "To force your will onto magic can be a simple thing. At first it might be troublesome, but as you age and fall into repetition and favor certain spells, it becomes as easy as snapping your fingers." He said, and snapped.


    Celestine tried to copy him, the snapping I mean not the magic. She was never taught how to snap her fingers.


    Warran saw her getting distracted and just clapped his hands to get her attention. "When you first perform spells, it''s good to have some sort of visualization in your head to force into the magic. Some also choose to use incantations, or phrases, to get their mind into the right frame, especially in battle. But these become unnecessary as you get older, are more accustomed to your spell repertoire, and your limits. Now then, like I said, we will start with light. Close your eyes, and picture in your head an image of light. It can be a lit light crystal or something as powerful as the sun. Right now we aren''t worried about the form of the spell, only if you are able to cast it."


    Celestine did as she was told and tried to visualize light from light crystals. She turned her hand up like Warran did and forced the magic power out and into her finger tips. She let the thought of light fill her imagination. Just a generic ball of light in the darkness of her head, nothing more. When she felt something give way in her arm, and the energy in her fingers leave, she opened her eyes to see the results of her action.


    Floating above her hand where a light ball should have been, was a ball of swirling black. Laced in the blackness were dots of innumerable colors fading and changing rapidly. The abstract visualization of void. This wasn''t a black hole, this was like a window to the void that I had escaped. It was a home for me, and a hell once. Neither light nor darkness. Just imperceptible nothing given abstract shape for those to bear witness.


    There was no reason for this to happen, though. Celestine was trying to make a light ball. Instead she made a ball of void. Something like this couldn''t have fit into the six schools of magic Warran mentioned, could it? One of the common schools was spacial he said, could this be it?


    Celestine looked up to the elf man and his eyes were wide open. His mouth was slack. He had seen something phenomenal and he had no idea how to react. It was kind of funny.


    So no, his reaction is too out there for this to be something he knows of. Only one solution to this now.


    <Disperse it. Turn it off.> I said. No reason to test the limits of this magic now.


    Celestine cut off the flow of power to her hand and the ball shrunk before disappearing in a small explosion of light. She closed her hand and held it forward a bit before lowering her arm back to her side.


    "W-w-w-what was that? S-some sort of gravity magic? No no, this was too different. WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Warran found his wits about him before he shouted at Celestine.


    She flinched and spoke softly. "I just tried to make a light."


    "That was no light! That was something else!" He held his hands up to his head and shook his head back and forth violently while facing the ground. "How the hells, how the hells are you the child of humans?"If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "Uhhhm."


    "Hope! That''s it! I need to get you to Hope! They will be able to identify what it is you can do! Nobody in this backwater city will know what it is you can do, but they can help!" Warran walked over and grabbed Celestine''s wrist. He was about to pull her back into the mansion when Mother was standing at the backyard doorway with her arms crossed. Was he about to abduct Celestine over this? His face is red, but I don''t think that''s from the sun.


    "What were you planning to do with my daughter, Warran?" Mother asked.


    Celestine prised her wrist out of Warran''s grip and rubbed it with her other hand. Damn he''s got a strong grip for an old man.


    "Sylvianna, there''s NO discussion here! She performed a whole new magic I''ve never seen before!"


    "I saw. What. Were you planning. To do about it?" Mother repeated, her eyes narrowing.


    Warran hesitated before declaring, "I''m taking her to Ho-PRRZGGGG! SYLVIANNA!"


    Mother had zapped him with lightning. She didn''t even move her hands, the bolt arced from her forehead and struck the old man in the stomach. "You will do nothing but teach her."


    "But Sylvianna! We need to let the professionals deal with this!"


    "The professionals are the elves, Warran. Are you saying you aren''t good enough to deal with this new magic?"


    "You know this is beyond me, woman! And I can''t return to Eldwen with her, so Hope is the only option!"


    "The only option is for her to stay here." Mother said sternly. Celestine slowly inched away from Warran, but didn''t approach Mother, fearing a stray arch of lightning.


    "I- I WILL TARZNGGGGGG STOP THAT!" Warran shouted as Mother zapped him again.


    "Baby, your carving lesson will begin early today." Mother said in a sweet voice to Celestine, which sent a shiver down her spine.


    "DON''T PERFORM THAT MAGIC AGAIN UNTIL I CAN STUDY YO-OOOOOOGRGGGG... it... Please stop DOING THAT!"


    Celestine walked quickly inside behind Mother while hearing Warran shouting and lighting crackling behind her. She didn''t want to know what horrors awaited her would-be kidnapper.


    The next day she was stuck in a similar position. Standing in the backyard, facing Warran.


    He coughed loudly to get her attention before speaking. "I sent a letter to some friends of mine in Hope. I tried to convince one to either come here or send me some reading material on this subject. For now... let''s just try to forget yesterday happened."


    Yeah, that will be hard.


    "I want you to try to make a light ball one more time. Try to focus more on it this time, with more concrete thoughts. I think you might have been thinking too abstractly yesterday and... your magic filled in the blanks... Keep the thought of light in your head. The light of the sun, the light of a crystal, anything that is light. Keep that and only that in your head. Keep your eyes open. Now cast a light ball in your hand. If what happened yesterday happens again, cancel it immediately and we will just move on and avoid light magic."


    Celestine nodded. She held up her hand with the palm facing up to the sky with her fingers slightly curved up. She willed the magic to flow through the conduit in her bones to the tips of her fingers. In her mind, she kept focus on anything that produced light. The sun was the obvious one. But there was also the light crystal sconces in the mansion, the light chandeliers and fixtures in the church, and the light magic Mother used occasionally in their home in the slums to read at night, holding perfectly still floating above her while she read silently in a chair in the kitchen. The familiar feeling of something giving way was felt in her hand and in her hand was a small ball of light this time.


    She squinted her eyes at the sudden brightness and Warran took a deep breath to sigh in relief.


    "So you can still use light magic. That''s a relief. That''s a relief. You might have been at a serious disadvantage without it. While it is the most basic school of magic, it is the most useful in daily life. Now that you can perform a basic light spell..."


    Warran stopped while he eyed Celestine poking the ball of light in her hand with her free hand''s index finger. There was nothing solid there, just a formless point emitting light.


    "Celestine!" Warran shouted. She jumped and the ball of light disappeared as she lost concentration on feeding the ball with her magic energy. "Pay attention, girl. Now that you can perform a basic light spell, we will focus on how to manipulate the spell. Now, what is the difference between someone with a large conduit and a narrow conduit?"


    <Help me!> She cried.


    <Use your brain, he told you this.> I figuratively facepalmed.


    "Umm, bigger means more power?" She answered the question with a vague answer in the form of a question.


    Warran took that as a sign she needed a refresher. "A wider conduit means a person can perform more and more powerful spells, but at the cost of control. A narrow conduit means a person lacks the power, but they have greater control of the spells. Before we move on to trying more complex spells, you need to gauge the limit of your conduit. Make another light ball in your hand."


    She did as she was told. She forced the magic into her finger tips and formed the ball of light. It was easier for her to accomplish this after already succeeding once.


    "Now keep forcing power into your hand and into the ball of light. Keep forcing it as much as you can for as long as you can."


    She followed his instructions. I could feel the power rushing through her arm and into her hand. She pulled on as much power from key parts of her body, like her other hand, her legs, and her abdomen. She kept her focus on the ball of light as if she were to look away, she could lose it. The more power she forced into her hand, the brighter the light got until she reached a point where she could no longer force the power flow fast enough to make the light brighter. She could sustain this flow just barely, but this much is making her head hurt and her arm feels like it''s on fire with all the power rushing through it.


    This might be a good time to bring this up. If it wasn''t obvious by now, magic in this world doesn''t work like magic would in stories and games on Earth. Instead of a magic pool in the body for a mage to draw on, in this world the magic acts like a constant stream from a source. The source, whatever it is, is constantly blasting the body with power. The act of channeling is just moving the power from being everywhere in the body to through the body and to a certain area for focus. The focus is like a water faucet. Turn the knobs to make more water flow, but in the end the amount of water that can be forced out of the faucet is limited by the size of the pipes, the conduit. Magic can pooled a little bit in a part of the body, the sink, and the water can be manipulated, creating a spell, but in the end, a mage is limited by how much water can come out of the faucet. I would say Celestine''s conduit is like that of a garden hose, actually. It''s easy to control and manipulate that stream of water. But the wider conduits are more like firehoses, if I''m understanding what Warran said. So much water flows through them that there''s little room for control. You just point, aim, and hope whatever you wanted to happen happens.


    I''m brought out of my thoughts by Warran deciding to end the exercise. "Keep that limit in mind. Because for now it''s all you have. As you age, you might be able to draw on more. Though, widening a conduit is a very rare occurrence, one that only happens in childhood. You''re lucky you went through that awakening ceremony early. Especially with that special magic. There''s the chance, albeit small, for improvement. Yes yes. Hm mhm. Anyway. Now extinguish the spell."


    She cut off the flow of magic to her hand and the ball of light vanished.


    "Now you need to modify the will you put into the magic. It isn''t enough to just think about light now. You have to command the light. These commands are why I mentioned yesterday that mages need incantations. Some spells are even so complex you need to read books while channeling the magic. We won''t be using any of those, of course. I just thought I''d mention them. You need to be taught early that there really is no limit with magic. We will focus on simple spells for now, though. The more you practice these, the better you will be as casting them and the less you have to add to incantations, or focus on mental images, to cast them. Like a child learning to walk. It''s hard at first, but the longer you do it the less you even need to think about it. Now your legs just move when you walk without even needing to be aware of the various muscles in your legs needed to move to make it happen. The next test is to cast a ball of light that is fixed in place. These are good for temporary lighting when you need to focus on other things. The basic components of the spell are to create a ball of light, have it store a bit of magic power to sustain itself without you, and to have it stay fixed in place where your hand is before letting it go. You do that and we''ll finish the lesson for today. If you don''t do it before it''s time for your next lesson, we''ll pick it up tomorrow."


    I''ll skip this bit. Try as she might, Celestine couldn''t figure out how to even feed magic into the ball to have it be independent of her. So the magic lesson ended and her carving lesson began.

 Chapter 15

    Her carving lessons were getting lazier and lazier. Not that her teacher wasn''t trying to keep her busy, it''s just now that she''s gotten more used to the craft, it''s become a way to just spend time and unwind. Especially when magic classes were starting to take a toll on her mentally.


    Celestine was still working on the pendant for Mother. This is the fourth attempt at carving the pendant and this one was showing the most promise. She carved the bone down to size, etched out the design of the bear paw she could remember from the dreamworld, and even made the raised claw marks. It was about what you would expect someone to make. A paw pad with the five individual ''finger'' pads above it with some claw lines above those. She did a good job of recreating it if I do say so myself.


    "Hmm, I never asked you before, Celestine, but why a wolf paw?" Duc''kaal asked, while watching her do her work. He had started to make something himself while Celestine was working. It''s human-shaped, so it is probably the carving he promised Mother in the shop the other day.


    "It''s not a wolf. It''s the paw of something I saw in a dream." She answered.


    "Oh? What was that then?"


    <Um, Novos, could you explain it to me?>


    <It''s a bear paw. It''s a bit hard to describe them right to someone who has never seen one. They are very large, strong, and furry. They have tiny flat tails, rounded ears, they walk on four legs but can stand up on their hind legs to fight. Their fur is usually brown or black, but there is also a variety that live in cold places that have white fur. They''re solitary omnivores, usually eating whatever they can get their paws on. Fish, fruit, or other animals.>


    Celestine pretty much just parroted what I said to Duc''kaal while she was carving.


    "Did you read about this creature or something? I can''t say I''ve ever heard of it."


    "Y-yes." Celestine said simply.


    "Hmm. I might have to ask someone else about these things when I get the chance. I would like to see if we can hunt one. Sounds like something different to try if they live nearby."


    Do bears even exist in this world? We have seen plenty of animals in the city that weren''t from Earth here, but there are wolves from what Celestine has read in some of her books. That''s how she knew the word when Duc''kaal asked. Looking at the bear paw, if you didn''t know what a bear was you might think it a wolf paw. No, wait, wolves have smaller pads and only four claws. Or are there varieties in this world with paws like this?


    "Uhm, Duc''kaal, could you tell me what all you''ve hunted before? I''ve only been in the city so I don''t know much about the outside." Celestine asked. Yes, good job! We''ll get a geography lesson out of this hopefully!


    "Hum, when did carving become story time? Hah, well since you shared this creature with me I suppose it would be rude of me not to teach you a little more something." He put his carving down and held his hand to his chin to think. "Let''s see, the first thing I hunted when I was still young was a desert antelope. They''re basically fodder here in the desert. They run fast, reproduce often, and live on roots they can scrounge up under the sand and soil. They run on all fours and grow long horns. Ahh, I think I have one of their horns here, actually." He sifted through the assorted bones in the bone crate and brought out a bright white horn that curled a bit. I would say it was about a foot and a half long roughly?


    "Then there are %^#*&^%(*%. Nasty giant snakes that burrow in the sands and attack with bony mandibles. Make good makeshift weapons if you managed to find a dead one. Otherwise they are difficult to kill without a large hunting party. Don''t have any of their bones with me, I think." He leaned forward to sift through the crate. "There are some bones of wild desert %$#%$#s in here. Those are good sport, but they have a lot of fragile bones that don''t make for good carving."


    His train of thought escaped him and he turned to Celestine, "Say, what was it you wanted to learn bone carving for again? This old man''s memory isn''t what it used to be."


    "But Duc''kaal, you don''t look old!" Celestine said, taking her attention off the pendant to look up at the red-skinned snake man.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    He really didn''t show the signs of age. He had no wrinkles, the scales on his head that looked like hair weren''t turning white. He had the appearance of a thirty Earth years old human. He opened his mouth, full of pointed teeth, and sighed, "My species doesn''t age quite like you humans. Trust me, I can feel my age in my bones full well."


    "What exactly are you, Duc''kaal?"


    "Oh, no one told you about us? We are !^#@$@%." for future reference I will just call them naga. The name he used had little meaning for us Earthlings speaking English if I were to write it literally as spoken. So just know all future uses of naga are in reference to Duc''kaal and his people. "We are the most dominant people in this area of Izaibis, which is the name of the land. Ahh, this turned into a geography lesson. Maybe I should just become a school teacher after I finish teaching you carving. Anyway, Izaibis is a long stretch of land that connects briefly to Saddath and spans all the way south to lands where I heard the air is so cold you will die in short order if you aren''t bundled up in furs. I''ve never been south of the desert. This city is Arture and it is a protectorate city of my people. We handle all of the security from the outside while your father supplies my brother with %#&%#%&%$."


    He paused, smacked his mouth open and closed a bit, before continuing. "Ah, probably said too much about that. Back to your question. According to our lore keepers, we are a kind of... progression of a lizard-like creature. Huge scaly body, four limbs, horns, breathes fire. The stories are fanatical. Much like how you humans are apes, we are dragons." He didn''t use the word dragon, but it fit with his description. "I say progression, but losing the ability to use our legs and being dependent on our tails for movement is more like a regression. We have more in common with snakes at this point. We are split into three main tribes that act independently for the most part unless in times of war with the bestial species to the south. There''s one tribe to the south called Indentured Lamentation that believe we are the result of our ancestors being cursed by a god to lose our legs and wander the desert. I''m from a tribe to the west near the coast called Black Scale. Our founders weren''t as colorful with our name as Indentured Lamentation."


    "What other species are there to the south that you fight?" Celestine asked, completely stopping her carving to listen.


    "There''s a wolf-like group that sometimes attack our minor villages to the south we need to fight back frequently. They look like monsters more than anything though. Like someone took a wolf and meshed its bones together to look somewhat elf-like. It walks on two legs, has a hideous wolf head, and huge arms with claws at the end of each finger." So... werewolves? "Then there are plant-looking species that attack on the coasts in the rainy seasons. They aren''t too difficult to take care of. Luckily we have a truce with the beast species up north. We don''t bother them, they don''t bother us. They are a sort of cat-people. Inexperienced human merchants that visit seem to take an interest in having them as slaves, but they are merciless if one of their kind is forced to leave home against their will. They really don''t like that Arture is here. So most trade is done by avoiding their territory with the seaways. Anyway, that about covers the elfenoid species nearby. Everything else is animals and monsters."


    "Humm..." Celestine said, thinking about what he said.


    "Anyway, back to what I originally asked, girl." He knocked on Celestine''s head with his knuckles. "And don''t stop your work. What did you want to learn carving for?"


    Celestine quickly went back to work and started to sharpen the crease between the bear paw and the rest of the pendant that would act like a backdrop to it. A sharper crease would let the paw pop out more in the whiteness of the bone. Overall, the goal is a shape that you might get if you poured plaster into a footprint. "I wanted to make a game for my brother''s birthday."


    "Oh yeah, that''s right. We''ll move to that after you finish that pendant. Don''t let this old man forget now. I still have to teach you how to file and smooth out the bones. So what kind of game you wanting to make that requires learning bone carving?" He picked up the carving he was working on and started working on it again, using a graver to pick out small details in a long skirt.


    "It''s a strategy game called chess." Celestine said while still working on the pendant, full focus on the item in her fingers.


    "Is this something else you read about or something you made up?"


    "It''s... something I made up." She paused for a bit to think about what to say before answering him with a lie. Hopefully he wouldn''t pick that part up.


    "Oh, so what part of the game needs carved?"


    "The game pieces. There are thirty-two pieces I need to carve up."


    "You put some thought into this did you? Well, I''m looking forward to seeing what you come up with there."


    They made small talk the rest of the day while they continued working, but nothing significant was said. The next day, Celestine still couldn''t figure out Warran''s magic instructions and Celestine just kept working on finishing the pendant. She was at the point where she was filing the sharper edges and using a cloth covered in some powdery substance to work as a sanding agent. I didn''t understand what the powder was when he explained it to her. It might be a substance on Earth or it might not be. It had the consistency of flour. The pendant was strung by the end of the day and looked acceptable. Celestine decided to hold onto it and wait for a good time to give it to Mother.

 Chapter 16

    "You''re having hells of a time with this aren''t you, girl?" Warran said, sitting on a stone bench with a book in his hand while Celestine stood sweating and trying to make the magic ball do what she wanted it to.


    "Mrrrrrrr..." She grumbled after the Nth failed attempt. I stopped counting.


    <Novos help me!> She cried.


    I had been making it a point to not help her in her magic studies. It was something she needed to learn, not me. But at this point, I don''t see the harm in giving her a bit of advice, whether it is helpful or not.


    <Hm, well, you''ve tried pretty much everything you could think of, right? You know I told you magic didn''t exist in my old world. But... maybe I can help. I don''t know. Maybe try thinking of the magic in segments. One being the spell itself, light, the next being the will of power retention, so it absorbs some magic power to sustain itself, and the last being a stationary modifier. Think, light, absorb power to sustain one hour, position stationary to the ground?>


    <I... I haven''t been trying to separate the spell into parts like that. WHY DIDN''T YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT TWO DAYS AGO?!>


    <Because I didn''t think it would take you this long to cast the spell right! And don''t get angry at me just yet. We don''t even know if it will work!>


    She held her hand out in front of her and curled her fingers a bit. I tapped into her thinking a little more than I usually do. She was thinking specifically of the light, staying in place, with the light lasting the set amount of time. Note this isn''t an hour like an Earth hour, but I think it might be close? GAH, I hate how I have no references to Earth time here!


    She forced the will of the three part spell into her hand and a dim ball of light formed between her fingers, following the feeling of something giving way in her arm. She moved her hand back and the ball of light stayed perfectly still. She looked to Warran and he was completely engrossed in his book.


    <Time for more practice then. See if you can fire a light spell at him.> I said.


    <Heh heh heh.> She chuckled lightly in her head.


    <Make the spell be sustained for only a short enough time to reach him. Try to make it brighter, too. And just to make future spells easier to cast, try to think of the spell''s direction from where you are facing. Bright ball, short duration, vector facing forward.>


    <What''s a vector?>


    <It''s a mathematics term from my world. Think of it as a direction that takes into account another subject. Like, you can make a spell fly from where you are facing, plus the direction. That would be the vector. By thinking like this, you could potentially make spells that target where other people are facing. Though that might be too advanced for now. Just think of a vector as you plus direction.>


    <Uh... huh.> She said softly, a bit bored and annoyed at my lengthy description. It probably went in one ear and out the other.


    She performed the spell like I told her to, though, and the new ball of light flew straight at Warran at about running-speed. That was an extra variable that was missing in my suggestion that she figured out after trying the spell twice. Description of the spell, how much energy it holds to sustain itself, direction of travel with the speed.


    The ball of light flashed in front of the old elf and surprised him. He jumped back and landed on his back behind the bench. Celestine started giggling at his overreaction.


    He stood up with a smile on his face like nothing happened. His hair was a mess though and I think he lost his position in his book. "Wow, good job! You even went beyond what I told you to." He spotted the barely visible stationary light ball in front of Celestine. "You did what I told you to and you decided to use a spell to get my attention. I see, I see. Go on to your carving lesson. We will start the next lesson tomorrow. I want to get out of this heat."


    The lesson with Duc''kaal started out mostly just planning out the various pieces for the chess set. Celestine told him she would need bones to be two different colors to make two sets of pieces. Originally she planned to paint the pieces, but Duc''kaal said there are some creatures with different colored bones that would be perfect and would look better than any painted piece. He would need to leave to go hunting for them later. Celestine asked to go with him, which he refused, to her disappointment. It would have been good life experience for her, but Mother would never allow it, he said.


    Celestine ended the day carving chunks of antlers into the size she would need them to be roughly for pawns. Duc''kaal didn''t stay at the mansion that night.


    The next day began with breakfast and then standing out in the heat of the day waiting for Warran to collect his thoughts.


    He clapped his hands. "Now we will skip the lesson on making a moving spell like that since you seem to have figured it out on your own. We will continue on to the next school of magic. Elementalism! This school encompasses a lot of magic, so this will take some time. There are four basic parts. Earth, fire, wind, and water. With these four basic parts, we can derive other effects from them such as lightning, which your mother... displayed the other day. Mages usually pick a specific element in this school to master completely for use in battles and monster subjugation. For safety reasons, we will be avoiding fire. I doubt you''ve even seen fire before in this desert, though, so you wouldn''t even be able to use it. Know this, Celestine. Magic is a phenomenon based on your experiences and knowledge. The more you know about a school, or element of magic, the more proficient you become in it. We will start with something you are the most familiar with. Wind."


    Arranged in the backyard were some hastily made flat stone markers placed in different locations, each a little bit further away from Celestine than the last. Target practice?


    "Wind encompasses air flow. The very air your breathe can become a weapon if you study it enough. What I want you to do right now is to make wind with your magic." He said. He held his hand out in front of him and a blast of wind blew into Celestine''s face. She squinted her eyes and had to reposition her feet to stay standing up. The wind stopped as soon as it came. Celestine quickly readjusted her hair while giving the old elf a glare.


    After her hair was a bit more presentable, she began mulling about in her mind how to make magic become air. Light is easy to make now because she sees it. The sun and other light crystals make great visual aides. She also has experience with her own magic. She was actually playing with the light balls before bed last night. But this was a whole other school of magic now. Elementalism, huh?


    <Novos-> She was about to ask for help.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    <I''m not helping this time.> I said while interrupting her.


    <I hate you!> She cried.


    She turned her attention to the task at hand. He just wanted her to make wind. She closed her eyes and tried to visualize the air. Of course you cannot see wind, but you can feel it on your skin and see its effects around you. I think that is the key here for creating wind. Instead of visualizing the element, you need to think about feeling the element. She couldn''t figure that out, though. And for the entirety of magic class, she was trying to visualize wind as lines of movement in the air instead of just the feeling of it. So nothing was accomplished and we moved onto carving class.


    Duc''kaal wasn''t there. So she just sat in her usual spot and continued to carve away the bits of bone she didn''t need in order to create the pawns. This proved to be more difficult than the pendant because nothing was really coming out all too symmetrical. Humans on Earth take for granted the various tools we have that can easily make something like chess pieces. I wonder if making lathes is even possible here.


    Well, a lathe is probably possible, probably common in areas with a lot of trees, but I doubt a lathe would be very useful with bone unless it can get up to crazy speeds. Not that I would even begin to know how to use a lathe.


    She continued to whittle down the bone with her various tools and compared the piece she was working with with her drawings. She tried to draw the pieces to scale with each other to keep the general look at the game intact. Pawns, being the smallest pieces, then the rooks, knights, bishops, queen, then king. While planning this out, she came to the realization that she wasn''t a very good drawer, so she declared that practicing her drawing ability will be her next goal after making the chess set for Sullivan.


    While trying to round out the head of the pawn she was working on, and carving near the base to round it out, she cut too close to the middle of the antler and accidentally broke it. A loud sigh escaped her lips. The once one piece, now two pieces, of pawn were placed onto the table. She leaned back in the couch and took another deep breath. Yes this whole time of learning how to carve bone she learned how to be more patient, but anyone can get frustrated after a failure like that.


    <Why don''t you clean up and go look at how Daemon and Sullivan are with their work?> I asked, trying to cheer her up.


    She responded with another sigh while piling all the bone shavings into a cloth bag. She was back to square one with this.


    <Maybe I''m not using the right kind of bone with this.> She thought, noticing how the inside of the antler she had been working on was softer than the outside.


    <Are there any antlers that seem large enough to carve just the walls of them? That way you could avoid the inside all together.>


    <This isn''t fair! Duc''kaal said these were solid bone, but why is the inside softer than the outside!> She complained while dropping the piece into the bag with the other shavings and dust.


    <If he''s here tomorrow, complain to him. If he''s not, try to look for a better bone to use to make the pieces or try a different strategy. Ahh, if this was wood it would be so much simpler.> I said the last sentence without meaning to.


    <No! I started this with the goal of making the game out of bone, I''m finishing this!> She declared while looking at her hands. She sniffed her fingers for a bit before recoiling. Ah, that''s right. Bone smells horrible when you are carving it. The smell got into her hands. <I''ll go visit with Daemon and Bubby after I clean my hands.>


    After cleaning all the mess from her carving and washing her hands, there was nothing else left to do today besides to read or visit with the last remaining class taking place in the mansion.


    Celestine approached the door to the work area that belonged to Daemon. A realization crossed her mind. She had never been inside this room before. She always had her own things to do, whether they be reading, being taught by Mother, or now she had her magic and carving lessons. This was actually a rarity for her to have free time.


    The door was always partially open for airflow. She approached and knocked on it lightly. When she received no answer, she just pushed it open and entered.


    The entire room was covered in flasks of various colored liquids, many glass tubes, small fire flames for heating said tubes, test tubes, and machines that I had no word for. Shelves lined the walls with books, bowls, and other tools. A glass cabinet was stuffed with dried plants and other unknown ingredients. There were several stone tables littering the room. There were large windows in the room that opened to the outside, but the blinds were closed and a black cloth was used to keep the light out. It had a very dreary atmosphere. Not quite a witch''s lab, more of a lab you would expect of a medieval mad scientist.


    At one table I saw a man in a white coat hunched over a young boy, also in a white coat. The man was Daemon, but he had dark spots under his eyes. The dark lighting conditions of the room made Celestine more aware of his wrinkling face and light stubble on his cheeks. The boy was Sullivan. He was patiently working on mixing some chemicals together. The two were so engrossed in their work they never even heard her come in. Celestine looked around for someplace to sit and she found a chair by the window that overlooked the room.


    She just sat there quietly with her hands on her legs and watched them work. They were very quiet. Daemon would eventually whisper in Sullivan''s ear to let him know what needs to be done next and Sullivan would silently follow his instructions. Daemon really did nothing but observe and let Sullivan do all the work here.


    Without warning, the compound Sullivan was working on started to give off a black smoke, which caused Daemon to immediately cover the whole thing with a glass dome. Sullivan recoiled his hands and started trembling quite noticeably, like he was afraid of making a mistake like this. What followed was just Daemon softly patting the boy''s blond head followed by saying, "No worries. This is a difficult one. We''ll try again in a bit." Sullivan''s episode stopped and Daemon turned to go collect more ingredients from the glass cabinet.


    I don''t even have to guess at the reason for Sullivan''s reaction. I''ve had lives like that back on Earth. Daemon has hurt Sullivan before when he fails and that trembling was him fearing another beating. Luckily Celestine is too innocent to know these kind of signs, but Daemon just went down a rung on the likable scale in my book. Though I am glad he held himself back. But the mental damage is already done. I sighed and just kept watching the scene. This is sad.


    Not to say Mother is innocent in the punishment department, but this is completely different. When Mother punishes Celestine, she deserves it in some way. This is just a class to teach Sullivan Daemon''s craft, isn''t it?


    The memory of the boy shaking is still fresh in my head. I''m not going to play devil''s advocate here anymore.


    Sullivan was quietly watching the smoke billowing out of the flask he had just been holding. He watched the dance of the smoke twirl about in the glass dome before it started to disappear into a small marble at the top of the dome. A tool that absorbs noxious fumes, I assume. Sullivan''s gaze shifted and he finally spied Celestine sitting quietly in the chair. He blinked a bit before it finally registered in his head. "Sis?"


    Celestine responded with a smile and a small wave. "Hey Bubby, what''cha makin?"


    Sullivan started fidgeting and then Daemon finally saw her. "Celestine!" It was like watching a flower bloom in a second. He was not the sulking old man teaching a boy his trade, he was now the Daemon she knew again. "What are you doing here? What about your carving? You''ve been so into that lately you barely respond when we come to see you!"


    "Duc''kaal left for a bit and I got frustrated after I broke what I was working on, so I decided to come see what you two are up to!"


    "I see, I see..."


    "What about magic?" Sullivan asked timidly.


    "I only have a short class with Warran in the mornings then I carve the rest of the day." She explained. "So what''cha making?"


    "Oh a beautiful flower like you shouldn''t need to concern yourself with what we''re making! In fact, it''s probably best if you not worry about it at all. Ah if I wouldn''t miss you so much I would ask you to leave but I just can''t! Celestine, feel free to watch while we get back to work, but please keep quiet. Sullivan needs complete concentration to complete it." Daemon said in a bit of the sing-songy way he occasionally uses when he''s talking to her.


    "Well don''t let me distract you then." She said, sitting quietly while the two got back to work. Daemon emptied the dome''s vapor contents into a little chimney by the wall that I suspect has seen a great many noxious fumes fly up to the sky. I wonder if there''s some environmental hazard we should be concerned about.


    They continued to mix plants and chemicals the rest of the day while Celestine sat quietly. The two seemed to be in a better mood than before and Sullivan didn''t tremble when he messed up. So at least something good came out of her visit.

 Chapter 17

    The day began in the familiar backyard with Celestine sweating from the heat and struggling to make wind.


    Warran coughed loudly to get her attention. "Know this struggle, to so much as make a breeze, Celestine. This is the difference between someone who has an affinity and someone who doesn''t. If you had the affinity for elementalism, you would have already been able to knock down those targets I set up by now."


    Celestine glared at the old man. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" She said between her teeth while trying to blast wind at him and failing. A failed spell has an interesting reaction. The familiar feeling of the spell completing and something giving way is felt in her conduit, but nothing happens and she feels an instant exhaustion. It has caused a pounding headache from all the failed attempts and her temper is starting to rise even higher with the combination of the heat of the day.


    "Yes?" He responded to her question.


    She let out a loud sigh. "For a teacher you aren''t doing a very good job of teaching."


    "This is just what learning magic is early on. I give you the basics, put you in the right frame of mind, and let you figure out the rest. I''m supposed to guide you on the path to find the answers yourself and to test you. Though I will say a child two years younger than you would have figured it out by now."


    All Celestine could do is hang her head down and stare at the ground. There was a rock there. If she couldn''t get wind magic to work, she will at least throw this damned rock at him!


    She willed the magic into her fingers and delicately studied the rock. She commanded her will into that specific rock. She looked up at the old man and willed the vector into the rock. And the speed, she decided, would just be throwing speed. The feeling of the magic leaving her, but without the feeling of exhaustion, was a welcomed thing. The rock flew in an arc and instead of landing at his head like she wanted, gravity caused it to smash into his stomach. He bent over and clutched his belly, but as soon as his hands touched his abdomen, he stood back up like nothing happened.


    "That wasn''t very nice. Throwing stones at an old man with earth magic. We haven''t even gotten to that yet. But if you want to skip ahead, I''ll show you the next school."


    Before Celestine could run, the old man''s hand was already in front of him. Celestine couldn''t move. There was a tight hold on her body that she felt, but couldn''t see. She was slowly lifted up where she was standing and could only look at the elf in fear.


    "This is spacial magic. Normally people and animals have a certain unconscious control over the space around them that prevents this. But because you are so weak, I can easily overpower yours." Celestine floated toward him while struggling in this invisible grip. She stopped struggling when she was right in front of him. She stopped struggling and just looked at him wide-eyed. "Your growth has been stunted. If you do not work to rectify this, you will not survive in this world."


    "Heee!" Celestine chirped and I had enough.


    I know I said I would try to avoid taking control of her body, but when someone else is doing the same, all bets are off. I wrenched control from her arm and all of the conduit of her body. It wasn''t hard because of her emotional state. Seems the more fearful she is, the easier it is for me to take control. I forced all of the power I could muster into the hand and pointed the palm forward. The arm was no longer under the control of Warran''s spell, but that didn''t matter now. Warran''s eyes went wide when he looked into Celestine''s eyes, but it was too late.


    Dioxygen, size basketball, vector forward, mach 1. The feeling of the spell leaving the hand was drowned out by the violent shockwave that echoed through the backyard. Celestine was blown backwards a few yards, winded but she still landed on her feet. Warran was blasted back, though. He flew through the hedge, through the stone wall that rounded the backyard, and he seems to have landed on the roof of a nearby house covered in blood and wearing only rags, which were once clothes.


    <Uh oh.> I broke the silence in her head.


    <WHAT DID YOU DO!?>


    <Uhhm, protect you?> I said, not knowing how to respond.


    <HE WOULDN''T HAVE HURT ME YOU IDIOT! BUT YOU KILLED HIM! Tell me how you did it. I want to kill him myself.>


    <Wait, what?>


    <The old man is still alive, I can see him breathing. Tell me how you did that!>


    It was at this point that I realized I still had control of her arm. I relinquished control of everything and she fell to her knees in exhaustion. She was breathing hard very rapidly and was sweating profusely. No, wait, she was already sweating, never mind.


    <I, uh, don''t think I should teach a five year old how I did that.> I said, confused about what I did myself. I didn''t even really expect it to work. But it seems using knowledge from Earth really helps to augment the spell, but I didn''t think Celestine''s conduit was large enough for this kind of destruction.


    Well, what is a conduit anyway? That''s something else I need to know. From all that I''ve managed to gather, from what we''ve felt while performing magic, it''s just the means by which magic is channeled and manipulated in the skeleton. But then why was it I could channel more power faster than what Celestine could the other day when she tried to make a bright ball of light?


    The use of calling out the molecule to manipulate was something I did off the cuff. I had no idea if it would even work. I didn''t even know if that''s what we are breathing here. But it seemed to do the trick. Instead of focusing on trying to manipulate the air itself, I focused on what I knew about the atoms in the air from high school back on Earth. Two atoms of oxygen bonded together make the oxygen we breathe, dioxygen. The size was simple. Vector was something I taught Celestine. And finally the biggest surprise was that using mach 1 as a speed actually worked. I have little experience with jets or guns, but simply knowing what mach speed entails seems to have done enough in reproducing the speed in the spell. This is... so fucking dangerous. I could split an atom with magic and cause an atomic explosion.


    <Yeah, better I not explain how I did that. I''ll try to help you figure out how to do air magic the proper way, though.> I said to pacify her, after a pause to think. Celestine slowly got back to her feet and sat down on the stone bench Warran usually sits while waiting for Celestine''s tutoring session to end.


    It didn''t take long for Mother to show up. There was a bloody sonic boom after all. Of course, the scene must have been comical because she had a wry smile on her face. Celestine sitting on a bench waving weakly to her while there was a big old hole in a solid stone wall with an elf in the background on a roof struggling to breathe and repair his body.


    "I... take it class is over for the day?" Mother asked as Warran slipped and fell off the roof. Celestine couldn''t see it, but we heard him yelling and then a thud.


    Celestine just shrugged while still breathing heavily. Mother walked over, picked her up, and brought her inside to clean her up and for a quick lunch. She had burned through most of her breakfast during practice after all.


    Mother had set her down in the main hall where Celestine quickly laid down on the couch and closed her eyes to rest. Duc''kaal still wasn''t back and she had no energy to try carving another chess piece.


    She was almost asleep when the front door slammed open. Celestine kept her eyes closed and pretended to sleep at this point.


    "SYLVIANNA!" Warran shouted.


    "Warran, get changed, you''re half naked. No one wants to see that." Mother said in a nonchalant way, her voice was coming from the armchair opposite from the couch where Celestine was laying.


    "Why didn''t you tell me she was a Voyager?" He growled between his teeth. "I was damn near killed!"


    "Because I didn''t deem it necessary for you to know. And what would you have done different anyway? All I can imagine you doing is pestering her for the otherworldly knowledge. And I doubt even if she killed you, you would die. You''re an annoying creature like that."


    "But whyyy keep it from me!?" He was whining now.


    "Because you never asked."


    "Stop with the jokes!" A heavy sigh followed before he continued. "You know me too well, I suppose. That #@^@%# in Hope is still frozen in his own little time bubble and there are no more living Voyagers besides him. Well, I guess there''s her now. Is that why the church released all of the restrictions on her conduit?"If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Yes. It happened last year. She started hearing a voice in her head. The acolytes identified the cause and unbound her so she could cope with it. You know why I had to keep it quiet. Daemon can''t keep a secret and now with Duc''kaal visiting, it is only a matter of time before the naga find out. You will treat her no differently while you tutor her." Mother said sternly.


    "Did the church acolytes identify the second affinity?" Warran asked, a bit quietly now and normal.


    "Something he hadn''t seen before. So I suspect it''s a god-level school of magic."


    "Holy hells." Warran took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you mind if I keep in touch with my contacts in Hope? They will want to know of her."


    "As long as the letters stay out of the wrong hands, I don''t mind." Mother said, sipping what I assume was tea. "I planned to take her to Hope myself when she gets older anyway. Now get changed. I don''t want you to be the first man my daughter sees."


    "Yes ma''am." Warran said, quickly stomping his way upstairs.


    Mother took a deep breath and sighed. Seems I caused more trouble than I intended yet again. "Now I need to get that wall fixed." She mumbled. Celestine finally went to sleep for real this time.


    Because of the early sleep, Celestine woke up in her bed while it was still night out. She sat up in bed and flexed her hands a bit. She created a ball of light in her left hand and let it stay fixed above her head while she got out of bed to turn on the wall sconces.


    She turned on the crystals on the wall and looked around her room, then back to herself. She was wearing her nightgown, but that wasn''t a surprise. Mother probably changed her after she carried her to bed.


    Celestine sat back onto the bed and decided to use this extra time to try to tire herself out with magic practice. She created a few more balls of light, then tried to make another bright ball of light, the brightest she could. She could feel more power flowing through her conduit than normal and when the spell finally cast, a super bright ball of light flashed in her hand before going out in a second. She was blinded for a while, eyes watering and blinking constantly. A minute later she could see again, but there was still a shadow of a ball in her vision that followed where ever she looked like she had just stared at the sun.


    <Was the one the other day this bright?> I asked, skeptically.


    <No! You know it wasn''t. The last one didn''t blind me! What did you do to me?>


    <If I had to guess, my using your body and conduit widened it? But it''s odd. When I made that wind spell, much more power flowed through the conduit than what you just used. Was that the most you could do?>


    <Yes?>


    <I think when I take control of your body, I make the conduit larger and I can perform more powerful spells. Maybe because I did that it wrenched open the available power for you? Hah, I wish someone would explain fully what a conduit is.>


    <Mrr, why did you have to do that? You ended up causing more problems for momma.>


    <Sorry?> I said innocently. She didn''t accept it, though.


    <I hate you!>


    <Well, good morning regardless. You going to keep practicing or go back to sleep?>


    <I''m going to the kitchen to see if there''s anything I can eat. I didn''t have dinner because of you.>


    <I said I was sorry...> I said and went back to being the quiet observer in the back of her head.


    <Whatever.>


    She went downstairs and quickly grabbed a few pieces of jerky that were made a few days ago. The cook makes them by cutting strips of meat, marinating them in the morning, and letting them sit in the sun in the afternoon to dry. A quick and easy snack. She munched on them as she walked back upstairs and entered Daemon''s library.


    The light sconces in the library were lit when she entered, but she paid them no mind. She walked over to her corner, sat in a cushioned chair, and picked up a book she had been reading before she started being taught bone carving. It wasn''t anything noteworthy. Just another random romance novel she picked up in the library.


    And no, none of these novels have any smut in them. Mother cleaned the library of inappropriate books shortly after we moved in, so Celestine is just interested in the whole romantic side of romance. She''s soaking up everything like a sponge to the point that I worry about her future romantic interests. She might end up setting the bar too high.


    When she finished the last passage of a chapter, the sound of a chair creaking on the other side of the room, hidden by a standing bookshelf, echoed. Celestine looked up above the book to see Daemon with a few books in his hand. He was putting them back onto a shelf that Celestine never bothered to look at. He pulled another book off the shelf and started studying the cover. The light was dim in that corner, so she couldn''t see what was written on it from here.


    Daemon let out a sigh before putting the book he had just pulled out back in its place as he changed his mind. He looked over at Celestine and his eyes widened. A smile brimmed on his face.


    "Good morning, Tina! Couldn''t sleep?"


    Celestine took note of the new chapter in her book and put the book onto the small table next to her.


    "I fell asleep early." She said quietly.


    "I heard." He left to get a small wood stool and returned to sit next to her. The stool brought him to her head level while she was sitting on the larger chair. "Made a mess of the yard and I have to pay for a neighbor''s roof I hear."


    Celestine grimaced at the realization she inconvenienced him like this. She never really took the time to get close to Daemon. Though that''s not to say Daemon hasn''t tried to get close to her. Mother usually gets in the way of his attempts.


    Daemon noticed her discomfort and said, "No no, don''t worry about it. It won''t cost much to fix. The roof will just take a mason to make up some more clay tiles and the wall is already fixed. No need to let it worry you."


    Celestine nodded and then silence surrounded them. She took this time to look over the man who was her father. The black spots under his eyes were darker now. He had a thicker stubble from missing a few days of shaving. His brown hair was a mess from neglect and he was still wearing his green scaled leather suit and pants.


    "I''m actually surprised you managed to knock the old man that far. I guess the magic lessons are going well after all." He said. Celestine looked to his eyes, but they were not focused on her. He was looking toward the door of the library, as if he was expecting someone to come in at any time.


    "Mhm..." Celestine said quietly while nodding.


    Then there was silence again. Celestine had rarely been this close to Daemon. She could smell his body''s scent. It wasn''t like armpit odor, it was more like, this is just how his body smells. It had a certain calming feel to it that Celestine couldn''t quite figure out. She didn''t hate it. The sound of their breathing was the only thing that was breaking the silence.


    Celestine''s thoughts went back to the black spots under his eyes. "Couldn''t sleep?" She asked.


    His gaze met hers before he looked down to the floor, and then back to her. "I was just looking through the books in here for some useful alchemical recipes." He chuckled. "This house is quite old and I haven''t been here long, so I try to look through the journals here in the library for anything interesting in my free time. My free time being when I should probably be asleep."


    "You really work hard to teach, Bubby." Celestine said in response. She started thinking back to when she was sitting in and watching Daemon teach Sullivan. The next thing she asked was probably not something Daemon ever wanted to hear. But it stuck in her mind since then. "Why was Bubby shaking when he made a mistake the day before?"


    Daemon''s face lost all color. Celestine witnessed a man just break in front of her. His eyes dropped, his lip quivered, his eyes started to tear up. He fell forward and knelt on his knees in front of Celestine. Before Celestine could do anything, two arms wrapped around her and Daemon''s head was buried in her stomach. He was crying into her nightgown, which was luckily far more thicker and modest than the thin gown she was using in the house in the slums. But even with the slightly thicker and softer fabric, she was starting to feel the tears soak through to her belly. She was pulled closer to the man who was her father and couldn''t escape. She felt in the man a kind of strength she didn''t think was possible from a person. Of course she was only really in contact with Mother most of her life. She had never felt the strength difference between men and women like this before.


    Daemon started mumbling something between sobs. His voice picked up volume and she could finally hear him repeating the words "I''m sorry" over and over again.


    Only Celestine''s left arm was free. The right arm was caught in his embrace. She knew Daemon wasn''t trying to hurt her, but it was a little hard to breathe with his head in her belly like this. She calmly ran her fingers through his hair. It was greasy and rough. There was sand in his hair, even. Why was he working so hard to this point? He really couldn''t take care of himself.


    His quiet sobbing continued, but calmed down with her touch. His embrace lessened so she could breathe fully again. "Daemon, you need to take better care of yourself." Celestine said, combing his hair through her fingers to straighten it a bit.


    "I know..." He said softly. His embrace lessened. "I''m sorry, Sylvianna..." His sobbing ended and his quiet breathing was all that remained. His grip went limp. His head was turned to the side and he was leaning against her still. Celestine turned a bit to look at his face. His eyes were closed.


    "Did... did my own father fall asleep on me?" Celestine whispered to herself.


    His head slid down to where he was using her thighs as a pillow through her nightgown. She looked down and saw the mess he made of her nightgown. Spots of water and snot lined the pale salmon-colored cloth. She sighed and casually wiped her hand on his leather jacket to clean off the grease from his hair that had clung to her skin. Then she just went back to reading her book. There was no way she could carry the man to his bed. So she would put up with being his pillow for just tonight.


    She sat quietly with Daemon using her as a pillow for the rest of the night, reading the book she had, and then managing to pull another one off of the shelf behind her, without waking him, to read it as well. She wasn''t quite sure what time it was because there were no windows in the library. Most of the walls were covered with bookshelves and books. But her salvation finally came when Mother entered the library.


    Celestine quickly put the book on the table and looked up over to Mother. Reflected in her eyes was something hard to read. She looked like she was about to kick Daemon when Celestine spoke up.


    "Good morning, momma." She started. Mother just looked at Celestine, looking her up and down. Daemon''s arms were on either side of her, laying against her waist and the armrests. Celestine didn''t want Daemon to be hurt after this. Not after that absolutely pitiful display last night. "You see... Daemon and I were talking a bit last night and he..."


    <Had a breakdown.>


    "had a breakdown and fell asleep." She ended with my help.


    Mother nodded slightly and pointed to the stains on her nightgown. "Tears?"


    Celestine nodded.


    Mother let out a loud sigh before walking over and slowly pulling Daemon up by his jacket so Celestine could slide out from under him. When Celestine was free, and standing beside Mother, she lowered Daemon back onto the chair and he continued sleeping like nothing happened.


    "Let''s go get you cleaned up. I hope I can clean your nightgown after that."


    Celestine hummed once in acknowledgment and followed Mother back to her bedroom to get changed for the day.

 Chapter 18

    <Okay, you said you would help me figure out the wind magic, now tell me.> Celestine said in her head to me. We were back at this again. Standing in the hot backyard while facing Warran. Warran''s face was paler today than it had ever been. He seems to be on alert.


    There was a new addition to our little party outside. Sullivan came today because he had nothing else to do. Sullivan has no class today from the looks of it. Daemon was still asleep. At one point he managed to get to his own room to sleep.


    What kind of men does she have as role models. One cried his eyes out and used her as a pillow while this one was afraid of her now.


    <Alright. Well, the biggest problem you have right now is that you can''t visualize wind. Air is invisible, after all. So instead of trying to visualize wind for the spell, you need to imagine the feel of the wind. Like how the wind feels against your skin or how the wind affects the terrain. Like with sandstorms or how it blows the bushes around.> I said, trying to explain my theory. <Of course, this may or may not work.>


    <What do you mean? Didn''t you do it this way?>


    <Actually, I did it another way, but that way is too dangerous. Trust me, it''s better only I know that method.> Because my method is akin to literal atomic element manipulation. The school of magic can be expanded to such a degree. I might need to take measures to ensure the people of this world never discover Atomic Theory. The last thing we need is magic that can split atoms and destroy entire cities.


    <I still hate you.> She said before taking a deep breath and preparing her spell.


    <I know.> I replied.


    In Celestine''s head, she was first trying to visualize wind again before changing it and focusing more on her own memories. Memories about how the sandstorms howl when blowing sand around and how the wind of a lazy afternoon brushes against her arms and legs. The feeling of the air coming in and out of her nose. These were really the only experiences she''s had with wind. I could add my own, like the feeling of a brisk sea draft or the chill smell of the air during a springtime thunderstorm. She has never even seen rain here. But I think it would be good for her to feel these things on her own instead of having me explain it or show it to her in dreams. I kinda spoiled her by making our little dream world in a frozen taiga.


    She coupled all of those thoughts on wind with the vector forward while pushing the magic in her conduit to her outstretched hand. The feeling of the spell being cast radiated from her hand and she opened her eyes to see the hair on Warran''s chin move a bit.


    He nodded, closed his eyes and nodded again. "Good job. We will continue with the next part." He coughed in his hands and opened his eyes. He seemed more composed now that he saw that was the extent of what she knew herself. "I want you to use wind magic to knock down these stone markers." He waved his hand to point them out. They were tall and flat stone markers that were spaced out so they were further away from her than the last. There were five. "If you knock down all five with wind magic alone, we will continue on with earth magic since you displayed some skill with it yesterday."


    "Is earth magic what you used to break the wall, Sis?" Sullivan asked behind her. Celestine turned to look at him. He was on the edge of his seat, which looked odd because he was sitting on the grass. Then she turned to look over at the wall that was freshly mended with stones and mortar. The stones and mortar were still differently colored compared to the surrounding stone. There was a gap in the bushes where the gardener had trimmed bits off to help promote better growth after having an old elf blast through it. In the corner of her eye was Warran with the best pokerface I have ever seen.


    She turned back to her brother and answered, "y-yes. That was it. It was an accident."


    "Whoaah." Sullivan was starry-eyed while staring at the wall.


    Celestine turned away and just decided to keep Sullivan in the dark on that. No reason he needs to know otherwise. And although she wants to tell him about me, there''s no guarantee he will keep it from Daemon. So better to just keep that on the down low.


    She turned her attention to the stone markers. They looked flimsy enough that a breeze should take them out, but they are stone... she might have to get creative with trying to knock them down. That furthest one will be especially troublesome.


    Let''s just skip ahead two hours of her not even managing to knock down the closest one. All she managed was a light breeze with her magic and it barely reached the first marker and made it wobble.


    <I don''t want to hear anything from you.>


    <I didn''t say anything.> I responded to her while she walked inside for lunch and to begin again on making the chess set.


    After a quick lunch of jerky and fruit, Sullivan entered the lab to work on his own. He said he could still make some simple potions while Daemon was asleep. Seems Daemon working himself to exhaustion was a common occurrence and although Sullivan had been surprised, it didn''t bother him too much. Daemon hadn''t done this since Mother and Celestine moved in.


    Celestine sat on the couch and laid out the bones and her notebook in front of her. She was trying to decide how best to approach this again.


    <Why not just make the pieces smaller? That way you can just use the edge of the other bones without having to worry about the cavity caused by the marrow or the soft spot in the antlers.>


    <I can do that?>


    This girl... <There''s no set size or even design to the pieces. You can make them as little statues of people or as the pieces in the dream. You can make them as large as you are able or as small as the pendant. I even recall some small versions of the game that can be folded up and carried in a pocket for travel. As long as the pieces can be distinguished and there''s an eight by eight board, you can play chess.> I said while recalling a small pocket chess game I got when I was young for Christmas. Everything was made of plastic except small magnets in the base of the chess pieces and the board had metal in it for the chess pieces to hold onto during travel. I kinda miss that board, it was a fun little thing to carry around.


    She sighed while picking an antler up to check the spot where the soft part started with a graver. Unsatisfied, she tossed it back into the bone crate and picked up a half-femur. Duc''kaal had cut it in half vertically to remove the marrow. <Why don''t you ever tell me these things?> She complained.


    <You never asked? I thought it was obvious, but I sometimes forget you''re still young.>


    <I hate you.>


    <I know.>


    <Bubby''s birthday is coming up fast, so I need to get this done. I''m going to have to make this simpler than I wanted...>


    She decided to freehand this one instead of following a set design. She took a saw, cut a section of bone off the half-femur and then cut the piece in half vertically. She cut one half in half again and started filing a piece down to try to make the quarter look as uniform as possible. After it started to look like a small rod about two inches long and half an inch in diameter, she started using her graver to mark lines in the bone. She filed the base as flat as she could, then started to carve away at the bone. As more and more bone was chipped away by her graver, the shape was starting to come out. She was making a pawn and the design looked to be a simple upside-down teardrop shape. She kept the narrowest part between the head and the base a decent thickness so it still had some rigidity. Overall it took her much less time in making this simple pawn than the standard designed pawn piece that she had been trying for with the antler and if I do say so myself, it has a certain handmade charm about it you don''t get from standard chess set designs.


    She held it up in her hand and was rubbing it with the abrasive powder that Duc''kaal told her to use on the pendant. It did a good job of buffing out the tool marks.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    <Remind me to ask Duc''kaal what this powder is when he comes back.> Celestine commanded.


    <Yes, mistress.>


    <That''s not funny.>


    <I thought it was.>


    She placed the pawn down onto the table and turned it to embed the design into her head. She also held it against the paper and marked the dimensions of it. Then she moved onto the next bone piece to repeat the procedure again.


    She found replicating it exactly harder than actually just making it off the cuff. She spent almost twice as long on the second piece as the first just because she kept messing up. I wanted to tell her to just keep going and that the little imperfections added value to it. After the fourth attempt she gave up on them being exact. Luckily she kept all her mistakes and now had five simple pawns finished by the end of the day. They all had a different look to them whether it be a wider base, slightly shorter height, wider neck, or thinner head. Overall the shape was there and no one would confuse them for another piece, which was the point. After rubbing them with the abrasive powder to clean off the smaller imperfections, she placed the pieces in a cloth bag, cleaned up the bone shavings, and prepared for dinner and bed.


    The next day she woke up early again. Just as the sun was starting to send its rays over the horizon. She took the time to go into the library. This time the light crystals were off. She was disappointed somehow, but shook her head to get rid of that thinking and sat back on her regular spot to keep reading the book she had started the morning before. She hadn''t been picky with her choice of reading materials yesterday morning because she was too preoccupied by the grown man using her lap as a pillow, so she ended up grabbing something of an adventure book that detailed a journey through the elf lands. It was specifically about a country called Eldwen and she was thinking about where she heard that name before. Probably something Warran said that she wasn''t paying attention to at the time.


    It was a reading level higher than she was typically used to reading, but she enjoyed the author''s descriptions of the terrain. Lots of forests and green shrubbery. Thick humid atmosphere. She asked me many times to explain these to her because the book was written for someone who should probably know about these things. She hadn''t even seen a tree before except for the ones in the dream world with me, so she had no way to reference things. I tried to keep it vague to let her imagination run wild.


    Sullivan showed up instead of Mother to let her know that breakfast was ready. So she got changed and the day began again.


    And she was back in the backyard trying to figure out how to knock down the stone markers again. No matter what she tried, the wind magic just dissipated before it even reached the first stone marker. She struggled for the last hour to try to knock one down to no avail. So now she''s begging for help from me.


    <No.> I said flat out.


    <You need to be able to think for yourself one of these days, girl.> I replied with a sigh.


    <But I can''t do it!>


    <All you''ve been doing is throwing the same spell at the markers over and over again. You aren''t even trying to think outside the box.> I said.


    <What does that mean?> Oh, idioms from Earth. I need to stop using those.


    <Think beyond what you would expect. You think the only way to knock down the markers is to just throw wind at them? Try manipulating wind in other ways and seeing what effects they have. You''re not going to get anywhere just doing the same thing over and over and over again.>


    <Mrrrr... I hate you!>


    <Sure you do.> I ended up giving her advice anyway. Damn it.


    Well it''s not like it helped her. She still wasted the rest of the class not accomplishing anything. By the end of the assigned time for practice, her thoughts wandered to where Sullivan was. Since he didn''t show up to watch her, it must mean Daemon woke up today and resumed the teaching. She hoped that after making and giving the chess set to Sullivan, he would at least be allowed the free time to play it with her.


    After her practice she had lunch and went back to her carving. Duc''kaal was still gone, so she was alone again. She finished the remaining three white pawns and was starting on the next level of pieces. At least she was going to keep with the general theme of chess being the pawns were the shortest pieces, followed by the rooks, knights, bishops, queen, then the king would finish as the tallest piece. She would need to work harder on the special pieces, but since there were only three sets of two, with the queen and king, for each side, she felt taking her time was better than rushing it like with the pawns.


    She sawed off chunks of bone from the same femur as the pawns so the color would remain the same and she filed them to size to begin the work. She marked them so they were slightly taller than the pawns and started with the base. Going off the simple design of a round castle tower with parapets at the top like from the piece in the dream, she made the base round to match the pawns and made the tower more or less the same width from the bottom to the top until she got to the top. Then she extended the diameter a bit and carved the rest of the top. Then she got to detailing. She started using the smallest graver she had to carve in small brick shapes into the side of the castle. She was meticulous in their spacing and carved them deep enough so that the abrasive powder wouldn''t rub them away. She finished with the raised parapets on the top with a file and graver. Now the rook was the best looking piece compared to the pawns. She finished with the abrasive rubbing and sat the piece on the table to admire it.


    After a few minutes of examining it for any unforgivable imperfections, she decided to end her carving session early to see what Daemon and Sullivan were up to. She has been worried about the two of them for a while now. She put all the chess pieces she had made so far back into the cloth bag and cleaned up before washing her hands and entering their work area again.


    Quietly opening the lab door so she wouldn''t disturb them, she sneaked into the room and sat on the chair she was on the other day. Daemon and Sullivan were back to work again on another complicated compound. This time with some sort of odd distiller looking machine. There were a few colorful crystals suspended in the liquid from what she could see. They probably did something that neither Celestine nor I could ever understand even if someone sat us down and explained it to us like we were five. Well, Celestine is five, so that reference kinda works doubly? Is that how it works? Though she''s not five Earth years old, she looks more like eight or nine Earth years old.


    Anyway, Sullivan was noticeably calmer than he was before and Daemon even had a hint of a smile on his lips. He still had dark spots under his eyes, but they weren''t as pronounced.


    "Alright, slowly mix the black liquid in with the cloudy one." Daemon said softly and leaned over to guide Sullivan''s hands. They poured said liquids together. The black liquid was in a narrow pipette and the white cloudy liquid was in a beaker over top a small flame. They squeezed the black liquid into the beaker at a constant stream and Daemon put the pipette into a glass of clear liquid, probably for sterilization. Sullivan mixed the liquids together in the beaker with a glass rod until they were incorporated and became a cloudy gray liquid.


    Daemon patted Sullivan''s head. "Good job. Now let''s finish up the last part." Daemon looked up and over to another table with more glass machines loaded with other colored liquids and when he did that, he caught Celestine''s eyes. "Ah, Celestine! Come to watch us men work again?"


    Celestine responded with a small laugh and a nod. "Seems more interesting in here than out there."


    "Hi sis!" Sullivan responded with a smile, but he kept stirring the liquid in the beaker.


    "If you''re interested in the family business, I can teach you, too! Would be good to go back to the basics to review for Sullivan."


    "I''m already starting to lose my free time as it is. at least Duc''kaal still hasn''t come back."


    "Aw, that''s a shame. Oh well. Anyway, Duc''kaal does have responsibilities outside of this house, you know. As much as we enjoy the old guy''s company, we can''t keep him from his family. He did leave you enough bones to practice on, didn''t he?" His voice turned pensive and he brought his finger to his chin. "I wish he would accept money as payment. Feels weird that he''s teaching you for fre-"


    "Dad!" Sullivan shouted. The cloudy gray liquid was starting to foam and bubble.


    "Right! Sorry!" Daemon said, quickly grabbing a beaker half-full of purple liquid from the tip of a distiller and replacing it with an empty beaker to catch any extra drips. He brought the beaker over, lowered the fire a bit that was below the gray liquid and poured the purple liquid into the gray liquid in a steady stream while Sullivan continued to stir with the glass rod. The cloudy substance began to turn a clear lilac color. Daemon turned off the fire and moved the purple liquid back over to where the distiller was. He took the lilac-colored substance and poured it into another machine, which immediately got to work doing something to it with a crystal spinning above the liquid.


    "Well that''s done for now. Let''s back off of the more difficult stuff for now while the lovely in the room is distracting us."


    "I can leave if I''m bothering you." Celestine said, about to get up.


    "NONSENSE! It''s a welcomed change! Way too serious in here." He turned to Sullivan, "Son, let''s just make some more ^$%&$#&$^# #@^@^% while Tina''s here. The church begs me for more of that crap without end."


    "Right." Sullivan responded and went to a nearby cabinet to grab cartons full of liquid and what looked like dried plants and powders.


    "Are you feeling better, Daemon?" Celestine asked. He seemed to be in a good mood. Maybe he got over whatever came over him in the library.


    "Never better! My daughter''s hugs are the best cure!" Daemon declared while cleaning some other machine and snapping in a string that probably led to the power generating crystal in the attic.


    "I never hugged you, though." Celestine responded plainly.


    "DETAILS! Needless details. I''m sorry for showing you such a sorry side of myself. NEVER AGAIN! I will make it up to you in any way possible! To both of you!"


    "Why me, too?" Sullivan turned around and asked after hearing that.


    "Because you''re both my children, right? That''s what fathers do." He nodded to himself satisfied.


    "I''m still not calling you anything but Daemon." Celestine said in response to his declaration.


    "For what I''ve done, I deserve far worse." He said melancholically before his tone shifted back to his cheerful. "Now, let''s get to work!"


    "Okay!" His cheerful tone was starting to rub off on the otherwise shy little blond boy. This made Celestine smile even more to know they were acting this way now. She hoped she would never see Sullivan shaking in fear of their father again.

 Chapter 19

    Celestine was still struggling with trying to knock down the stone markers. She is starting to lose her patience while I''m just thinking that she''s getting a lot of valuable experience with wind magic. She tried creating a larger sphere of air to push, but couldn''t get it going fast enough for it to not dissipate before it hit the marker, she tried going for something small and that turned out even worse. She really couldn''t make anything go as fast as I did because she had no understanding of that kind of speed.


    The next thing she tried surprised me. This time instead of throwing an air ball, she tried to make a spell to extend a horizontal wind column. She pulled air from around her arm and forced it forward continuously. Instead of a single release, like with the spells she has been doing, she figured out how to continuously feed the spell and extend it. By using this method she managed to knock down the first stone marker, but the spell exhausted her and she almost collapsed.


    I''m starting to understand the magic process of this world better. Continuous spells are possible, but the caster has to constantly focus on the spell both mentally with the will of the spell and physically by moving the magic power through the conduit to the focus points, her fingers. Hopefully moving magic through the conduit is like a muscle and she will be able to extend the time to exhaustion with practice.


    After she rested a bit to compose herself, she tried again. With one down, there were four markers to go. But the spell she kept trying just wouldn''t extend to the second marker before the wind column would disperse. She didn''t have a wide enough conduit to force air into the column fast enough to counteract the air expanding out throughout its length. She needed some way to keep the air in the column enough to push it forward.


    She lost all energy in her legs and fell onto her knees after the last attempt. The magic was starting to take a toll on her. Her body ached from the strain of continuously focusing the magic to her arm. Warran decided to end the session for today early so she could eat and rest a bit.


    After having some fruit for lunch, energy returned to her body and she went to the main hall to continue making the chess set. She was getting more proficient with bone carving at every successful piece. First the second rook. Then she made the knights. For the knights she kept the basic shape of the horses, but didn''t add too much detail like ears, eyes, or a mane. I stopped her because it would be difficult to explain how she knew what a horse was because she had never seen one before. They do exist in this world, she''s read about them in her stories, but they aren''t used in Arture. Instead they use a tall bird animal that... well let''s not beat around the bush here. They look just like Chocobos. Their coloring is anywhere from black to yellow and brown. Their bodies look like large ostriches, but they have larger heads and necks. I think this is what ostriches could have looked like if they were domesticated in a similar manner to how dogs were on Earth. In lands where horses weren''t suitable and camels didn''t exist, something like this with large feet and a long stride would be better suited to travel through the sands of a desert. They''re called desert striders.


    So instead of making the knights horses, she carved them with beaks and plumage along their heads to resemble the desert striders. Quite a nice adaptation.


    The next piece was a troublesome one. Bishops don''t exist in this world, or if they do they aren''t in Arture. There are only the acolytes in the church and the head priest, all of which wear the simple robes and no fancy hats like bishops on Earth did. In the end she just decided to make the piece just a larger pawn-shape but for the detailing she etched a spiral shape on them to symbolize the acolytes. That''s basically what bishops look like, right? Larger pawns but with a little notch in their hats. She decided to add the notch to her acolyte pieces anyway just to help differentiate them more from the pawns.


    For the king and queen, they started out very similarly. A ring around their neck up from the base. Then the hat on top differentiated them. She made the queen''s hat rounded with small notches to give it a puffy pillowed look with a little nub in the middle. For the king, she carved a raised six-pointed star on its head. Not raised vertically like the cross on kings in traditional chess, but laid flat on the head. In the end, the king was similar to the queen, but that six pointed star made it stand out significantly. The inner edges were right near the center of the head, so it didn''t look like a Star of David. It was more like what you would see if you looked at a bright light through a glass. She modeled it after the stars she remembers in paintings in the church.


    After she was done rubbing them all down in the abrasive powder, she lined all the pieces up like how they would be when set up in a real game of chess. The heights were right and they looked like they were ready for battle. But they needed opponents, now.


    <I''m not happy with them...> Celestine said to me.


    <An artist is never satisfied with his work.> I said with a verbal nod.


    <I know. Doesn''t mean I have to accept it.>


    <If you keep practicing bone carving, you will be able to make an even better set one of these days. But for now, just be happy with what you can do. Sullivan will love it regardless.>


    She sighed and put the pieces into the same cloth bag as before. They made a satisfying cling when they hit each other. She gathered the bone shavings and collected them like she always did in another bag. She sat back and looked around her. The light from the windows was starting to dim. On the table was a cold plate of food Mother had given her for dinner. She really does lose track of her surroundings when she gets to work.


    She quickly ate the cold dinner and went to bed for the night.


    The next day, after breakfast, she was back in the backyard trying to knock down the markers. Warran even had the gall to set the one she knocked down back up!


    Deciding to try another strategy, she experimented on other wind patterns she might be able to take advantage of. It''s quite interesting how fast someone can learn about the physics of the natural world when they can manipulate them at will. Instead of pushing air to the markers, she tried sucking the air to her instead. This had a similar problem as before where instead of the air dissipating, the air would come into the extended channel she made at a slower rate the further out it was until it got to right in front of her and it radiated out and around her. This made the first marker fall forward this time, but the next marker only wiggled.


    She was tempted to try to use wind magic to throw a projectile at the markers, but that kind of defeated the purpose of the assignment.


    Then a new thought occurred to her. Could she change the temperature of the air? She knew that there were crystals in the mansion that made the air inside cooler than the air outside and anything possible with the crystals should be possible to do with magic spells, from what Warran told her. She experimented by trying once and succeeding in making a ball of cool air. Instead of casting it to remain, though, she let it go and put her hand in it. Wind rushed out of the cool air ball and into the hot air around her, and her cool ball of air returned to average desert temperatures. She tried the same thing again, but this time with hot air. When she released the spell, air rushed into the hot ball of air instead of outward, cooling the hot ball of air. The change is very minuscule, but she was able to pick up on it. This is when she learned that temperature differences seemed to cause air fluctuations. She also noticed that the hot ball tended to rise up when she released it and the cool ball of air floated down.


    Her next experiment surprised me, but she did it without even thinking. She diverted her conduit evenly, let the power flow to both her hands, and created one ball of hot air in her right hand and a ball of cool air in her left. She held the two close together and closed her eyes to try to feel the power fluctuations between the two and how she needed to change her spells to maintain the two air balls. The cooler ball of air was fighting against the hot air. Cool air wanted to be underneath the hot air and vice versa. It''s neat she discovered that, but I wish she would pay attention to what she just did. She just casted two spells at once!


    Her mind wandered with this new knowledge and she started to think about other phenomena that happens in the air. Her mind rested on dust devils. She''s seen plenty of these before, but didn''t know how they worked. Air would pick up sand particles and swirl them around in a cyclone during the day and send the sand flying up into the air. Just from her previous experiment, she figured the cause could be temperature differences. So her next experiment was to create a source of hot air with her right hand and a source of cold air with her left hand again, but this time she held her left hand above her right to see what would happen now that she knows hot air wants to rise and cold air wants to sink. The spells were small enough that she wasn''t getting exhausted from these little experiments and Warran didn''t seem interested. The result was very simple. The hot air rose and burnt her left hand, causing her to recoil and the experiment ended.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    <Would you like me to explain why that failed?> I asked.


    She was sucking on a finger that got the brunt of the hot air. <Yes...>


    <You did good with the idea, but the problem is scale. Dust devils form when hot air is under cold air, the hot air rises quickly, and picks up sand and dust. The reason it spins is because the world is rotating underneath us. Your theory isn''t wrong, it''s just that your conduit isn''t large enough to make a large enough area of air differences to create a dust devil.> More knowledge from my last life. Hot air rising from the ground into a cold thunderstorm is how tornadoes form, not how dust devils form, but I figure they are about the same phenomenon, just smaller and less destructive.


    <So...>


    <You''re weak.> I said bluntly.


    <Ehww...>


    <But this wasn''t a complete failure. Did you even notice that you cast two spells at once?>


    <I what? Is that a big deal?>


    <I don''t know. It opens the door to more complex spells I guess? Keep experimenting, but don''t burn yourself again.>


    So she spent the rest of the tutoring session trying out different spells. Mixing air currents to see what worked, using two spells to one, channel air in one direction, and two, to force air into the channel. With this she managed to knock down the first, second, and third markers, but the wind dissipated too soon to knock down the furthest two. So her magic practice ended with lunch.


    After lunch she was prepared to sit in and watch Daemon and Sullivan work again when she was interrupted by a knock on the front door. Visitors were a rarity, so this made her jump. Didn''t help that she was also right in front of the door on her way to the lab when the door was being knocked on.


    She took a second to calm herself down and answered the door. Standing there, the familiar red-skinned snake-man greeted her with a bag over his shoulder. "Heey, missy? Miss me?" Duc''kaal said as he started moving forward. Celestine stepped out of his way so he could enter.


    "Hi, Duc''kaal. Where did you go?" Celestine asked.


    "Ahh," he put the bag over his shoulder on the floor and started to coil his tail in through the door. "I had to go hunting for some different bones for you, ya know? I also had to deal with some trouble at home. Nothing for you to worry about, just my nephew causing trouble again." He closed the door behind him.


    Mother rounded the corner from the kitchen, probably making her way here as soon as she heard the door knock. "Welcome back, Duc''kaal. Do you plan on staying again?"


    "Well that depends, Sylv. I got to check on my student''s progress then I will decide if I need to drill her some more or if I can head home and rest." He pushed his bag forward, opened it up, and pulled out a bone to show it to Celestine. "That look like it will work for what you been planning?"


    Celestine carefully took the bone from his hand and looked it over. It felt like a bone, was shaped like a femur, but it was almost completely black. "Is this char?"


    "Nope. Had to go searching for that. There''s a certain monster that roams the desert with black bones. Had a good old time trying to catch it. That''s actually one of its arm bones, notice there''s no extended ball at the end?"


    "Ahh, I see. Wait, this is only half of a bone." Celestine said when she noticed the end sawed off, dried crimson marrow caking the center.


    "Well, actually, that''s a third of the bone. I got the rest in here. Think that will be enough?" He said, opening the bag for her to see inside. There were loads of bone segments, white horns, black ribs, and part of a jaw in the bag. And the bones were all massive.


    "Uhm, it might be too much. Duc''kaal, couldn''t we have just dyed the bone somehow?"


    "Where''s the fun in that? I needed the exercise anyway. Come come, let''s see what you have so far." He said while picking the bag back up and moving to his spot on the couch, Celestine following him.


    She picked up the bone crate that still had plenty of bones in it, along with a bag containing the shavings from her carving and the bag containing her completed chess pieces. Emptying the bag on the table, she arranged them so she could show Duc''kaal.


    "Hum. The little ones are a bit plain, but I like the ones that look like towers. You even added the brick detailing. Oh, and are these little desert striders?" He picked up one of the knight pieces. "Hmm, it''s not bad, not great either. Celestine, I think you can do better, but these are good enough since your deadline is coming up. Show me your process for how you made them."


    Celestine was a little dejected, but she nodded at his logic. He was right, after all. Sullivan''s birthday is coming soon so she was starting to rush things. She still needed to paint the board. That should be the easiest part of the whole thing.


    She took one of the new black bones and started to cut it in half vertically with a saw.


    "Sorry I didn''t take the time to clean out the marrow. Most I could do is boil the flesh off of the outside and let it dry when I got back home."


    "I wanted to know what marrow was anyway." She said, cutting through the material. It was still wet on the inside and bloodied the saw she was using. When she cut through the bone completely, she separated them to look inside. The smell was not pleasant, but not quite rancid either.


    "I use a simple spoon to carve out the marrow. Sylv, do you have a bowl we can put the marrow in?"


    "Yes, I''ll be right back." Mother said before heading to the kitchen. She returned with a metal pail. When Mother sat it down on the table, Celestine went to work scooping out the marrow from the oddly colored bone.


    "Even better. Here, I''ll help clean out the bones myself." He said, picking up another bone from his bag and a saw. He worked much faster than Celestine could. Sawing in half quickly and ripping out the marrow with a metal spoon.


    "By the way, what is that powder you gave me to rub down the bone after carving it?" Celestine asked, picking out smaller pieces of flesh still sticking to the bone and tossing them in the bucket.


    "Oh that? It''s just some special stone grounded down into the powder. I forget what it''s called but it''s really handy isn''t it? The finer you can grind it down the smoother the polish is."


    Celestine got the bone as clean as she could and started to section it up by comparing it with one of the white pawns. Then she cut the bone to size, then cut it in half again vertically. She started to file the quarter down to size and then continued her work like normal while Duc''kaal watched from her right. She did miss having an audience while she worked.


    He didn''t say anything and just watched as she was lost in her own world. The bone was more difficult to work with because marks weren''t easily distinguishable on the black material. I wish we had something like chalk here. I wonder if there even is chalk in this world. It''s something you never really think about until you start missing it.


    She got through four pawns before Duc''kaal finally spoke up. "It looks like you''re doing fine on your own now. That''s good. Keep practicing, though. I don''t want you to get rusty. If you need bones you can easily get them from the shop we met in. You got to ask the clerk, though. He likes to horde them for more practical things like crates, dishes, or cheap utensils. He depends on my tribe to bring him bones from our larger kills, though, so if he doesn''t sell bones for artists, he gets on my bad side and the flow to his shop ends. Then we just keep supplying his competitors. Heh heh heh."


    "Uh..huh." Celestine had no understanding of how businesses worked, or at least a very basic understanding.


    He ran his fingers through her hair and patted her head. "Keep all the bones I brought. Just keep collecting the scraps and give them to a blacksmith when you have the time. The scraps and shavings can be used for cheap fuel." He slowly stood up onto his tail off the couch and moved toward the door. "I''m going to go ahead and head home. Take care, Celestine."


    "Duc''kaal!"


    "Huh? Ugh!"


    Celestine had jumped up and ran over to him, running into his stomach and wrapped her arms around his abdomen. A thin layer of his shirt fabric separated her head from his abs. She held her face against him and her thoughts explained the reason for this. She had grown fond of the old snake man and she had missed him during his absence. It just felt too sudden for him to leave like this.


    I don''t blame her. Duc''kaal was perhaps the best example of a father figure she''s had so far. Daemon is... Daemon. Warran is... Warran. But Duc''kaal was something else entirely. And it wasn''t just that he was a different species. He has a very grounded personality and he has an air about him that exudes control. Like nothing can shake him. Just listening to how he describes the region, how the city works, and how he interacts with people tells me he found his place in the world and is bending everyone else to his will. Daemon acts like the world is out to get him and that Celestine is some ray of hope for him. Warran acts like she is a burden to him. The only other person who gives her the level of respect Duc''kaal has for her is Mother.


    All this culminated into something Celestine just doesn''t want to lose now. So she''s hugging him like she can keep him here and is crying into his shirt.


    "What''s this now? It''s not like we''re not going to see each other ever again." He tried to pull her arms off of him, but she just gripped him tighter. He didn''t want to hurt her, so he gave up and let her do what she wanted. He put a hand on her shoulder and the other on her head. The moment lasted for a bit before she finally let him go and took a step back, her face looking down trying to not show her tears.


    Duc''kaal just kept standing there. "Feel better?"


    Celestine nodded, but didn''t look up at him.


    "I''ll tell you what. I''m going to be in the city again on the 50th. Some group has a little art show going on in the commercial district and I was going to go check it out. You can meet me there around noon, how''s that sound?"


    Celestine nodded. The sound of his tail pushing him toward the door was heard and the door opened.


    "Chin up, girl!"


    Celestine looked up and saw Duc''kaal by the door.


    "That''s better. Nothing interesting about looking at the ground all the time anyway." He said, showing his sharp teeth in a wide smile before pulling his tail through the door and exiting it fully, the soft click of the latch locking was the last sound heard.

 Chapter 20

    <Celestine, we should speed this up.> I say after she started breathing heavily trying to knock down the furthest markers. It was a new day of training, the first three of the stone markers that Warran set back up were easily knocked over again.


    <Are you finally going to help me now?> She complained. <I''m not sure if I want YOUR help now.>


    <Okay.> I said simply and went quiet.


    A long silence occurred between us before she spoke up again. <I''m sorry, help me.>


    <I''m not sure if I want to now.>


    "Mrrrmrmrmrmrmmm." She grumbled dejectedly.


    <Okay.> I responded with a little laugh. <Well maybe instead of trying to throw a spell at the markers, just cast the spell closer to the markers? Can you create a light spell and see how far you can cast it away from you without it leaving your control?> I had this little epiphany last night. The problem is that the wind dissipates when it gets too far away from the origin of her spell. So the best solution is to just see how far she can cast the spell origin away from her.


    She stood there thinking about what I said and decided to just go for it. She created a simple light point and modified it to travel away from her while still siphoning power from her conduit. She found the further it got from her, the more power she had to force through her conduit to maintain the spell. But the spell managed to get a really nice distance away before she couldn''t maintain it anymore and it fizzled out.


    Using this newfound knowledge, she immediately cast two spells. One to channel wind and the other to force air into the channel like she had been doing to knock down the first three markers. She placed the wind channel spell ten paces in front of her this time and forced the air to it from in front of her. By placing the spell that channels the air further away, it focuses the air a further distance from her and allows it to travel a further distance from her before it dissipates. The wind hit the furthest markers this time and fell over with a clunk on the grass.


    A wide smile was plastered on her face after finally succeeding. She released the spell, turned to Warran, and recast it in his direction. Simply moving the spell was still beyond her. It was just easier to change where she was facing and recasting it. The elf man still had his face buried in a book. But as soon as he felt an odd wind disturbance in his direction, he rocketed off the stone bench an stood in a defensive stance. The only thing affected by her wind attack was the book, which flew a good distance into the bushes.


    "Muuuuh, hold still!" Celestine shouted, recasting the spell in his direction again, which was easily redirected back at her with more force by the more experienced mage. The wind pushed her back and she fell a few feet behind on her butt.


    "You won''t be able to surprise attack me anymore, girl. I have to keep on my toes around you now." Warran said, slipping a red stone back into his pocket.


    Celestine stood back up and glared at the man.


    "So you finally got all the markers?" He lifted his hand up and all five of the markers righted themselves. "Show me."


    She turned and performed the same spell combination again. She cast it three times to knock down all five targets. When she was done, she looked back to Warran.


    "Explain it." He said.


    "I make a wind channel extended out in front of me with one spell and force air through it with another at the same time?"


    Warran sighed. "So you''re casting two spells at once? That''s a waste. You should be able to combine them into one. With your smaller conduit, you will need all the available energy you can pull out of your conduit for anything unexpected. But it sounds like you''re learning. We''ll do more work on combining different spells together into one later. A lot of that is actually taught at the universities in Hope, so no need to rush things."


    "Wait, I thought you said I was behind." Celestine said.


    "You aren''t anymore. Most children struggle with doing something as simple as knocking down markers with wind magic. Here I was hoping you would be struggling for the next year while I sit and read. You''re actually doing pretty well for a human." He waved his hand a bit. "Go inside and do whatever. Class is over. You will be practicing earth magic tomorrow and I need to prepare."


    Celestine went back inside the mansion and started work on the chess pieces again. Her mood has been sour since Warran didn''t get hit by her surprise attack and the need to finish the chess set was the only thing keeping her from going up to his room and ripping up some of his papers. She worked carefully to complete the rest of the pawns, each looking more uniform now that she has more experience with reproducing them.


    She got to work on making a rook when she finally looked up from her work and saw that she had a visitor. Mother had sat down beside her where Duc''kaal usually sat and was watching her work. Celestine then moved a bit closer and leaned against Mother, holding the partially completed piece in one hand and a graver in the other. She rested her head against her arm and closed her eyes. As she breathed, Mother''s perfume would enter her senses. Celestine didn''t know what it was called and she didn''t have the idea of asking, she just felt it suited her. Even with my past lives on Earth, I couldn''t identify the scent perfectly. It had a light fruit-like aroma to it, but for all I know it could also be a flower or something completely different.


    Mother hasn''t always used perfume, she only started when we moved into the mansion. I think Daemon makes it for her as some sort of peace offering. He certainly has the equipment to make such a thing. I wonder if there''s any significance to it.


    Mother lifted her arm up, over Celestine, and pulled her closer against her chest. Celestine fell asleep against the warmth of Mother.


    The next day began with more magic lessons. Things are starting to repeat. For earth magic, Warran had three boulders sitting on the grass and he told her to shave bits off of them and send them at the same stone markers from before. The goal was to practice earth magic on different materials. One boulder was more akin to compressed sand. The next one was a gray color, probably limestone, and the last one was something like granite. Warran didn''t bother to say what they were called. He just said to break off pieces of them and send them at the stone markers and to knock down all five markers for each boulder.


    After two hours of that, and only being accurate enough to knock down two markers, she went back inside to continue working on the chess set. She only had a couple days to finish it before Sullivan''s birthday. She finished the rook she was working on yesterday, carved another one, quickly carved two bishops/acolytes, and started work on another knight before it was time to sleep.


    Another day of practicing earth magic, another day of carving. Today she finished the knights and the queen. At the end of the day she packed up all her bones and her completed pieces and relocated her work area to her room. Days and days of working over the coffee table was started to put a strain on her back. Would be bad if she kept working like this and developed a hunch since she was still growing. There was a desk in her room, so she would just use that. In hindsight, she probably should have been using this since the beginning. Before bed, she looked over the board that would become the game board and tried to figure out how best to paint it.


    More magic, nothing new there, carving took place at her desk today. After finishing the black king and rubbing it with the abrasive powder, Mother helped her shape the game board, score it, and paint it. The board was actually much bigger than it needed to be because the size of the game pieces were smaller than she originally wanted when we went shopping, so Mother and her cut the board in half and pasted the unused half under the painted half to raise it up a bit more. Looks rather nice and should add more rigidity to the whole board. After the board was painted, it was left in the corner to dry for the night.


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    The next day started like normal, except now she had nothing to do in the afternoon. She couldn''t even play with the chess set because Mother also put a layer of gloss on it this morning, so that''s drying still.


    <Maybe we should practice control of your body?> I suggested.


    <Why? Is there something wrong?> She was sitting in the library reading with this extra free time. She decided not to bother Daemon and Sullivan because they looked particularly hyped for something today and almost raced into the lab. As long as they''re getting along, she could let them have their father-son time.


    <It takes too long for me to take control of a limb or switch control from you. I would like to see if we can practice that at all. Would be nice if we could more easily hold a conversation with someone or switch control if something attacks us, seeing as I have the larger access of power.>


    <M-makes sense I guess.> She seemed nervous.


    <Something wrong?>


    <It''s just, it always feels sort of wrong when you take control. Just like when you attacked Warran that one time, it felt like you could take control at any time and I would have no choice.>


    <Ah...> I took a moment to arrange my thoughts. This was something I wanted to avoid. I went and broke a level of trust with her I wanted to maintain all because I acted on a whim. I need to stop taking action without thinking of the consequences. Not only does Warran know about me and the kind of damage I''m capable of, Celestine is afraid of me too. <I''m not going to make any promises. If I think your life is in danger, I will act. Aside from that, I will always ask to borrow control. Sound good?>


    <Okay?> Now I confused her. This is harder than I thought. I am not good at this.


    I cleared my throat, well made the sound in her mind, <let''s get started with practice then?>


    <Okay.> She said, putting the book she was reading down.


    <First of all, I want to know what it is you feel when we switch places in control of your body. Could you describe it for me?>


    <It''s... hard to describe.>


    <Try your best.>


    <It''s like... having a bucket of hot water poured onto me. But it doesn''t hurt, it''s just very uncomfortable. Then I have to focus on the feeling in order to take back control. When you force control from me though, it feels like the water is boiling and that''s when it hurts.> She explained, pausing every so often to think about how to describe it. <What about you?>


    <When I need to glean your senses, it feels like cold water rushing through my body. I focus on the water and I can control it to some extent and that''s how I take control. There might be a certain relationship here with how we interpret control.> I explained.


    <Uh-huh?>


    <Celestine, I want you to try to fight me for control. I want to see if I feel something like freezing water like you feel boiling water. Let''s switch.>


    <Do I have a choice?> She asked.


    <Of course?>


    <Then no.>


    <Fair enough.> I said, and that was the end of it. She picked the book back up and went back to reading. I listened to her surface thoughts and while her eyes moved, her thoughts weren''t on the book, they were on what I just asked her. She was trying to weigh the positives and negatives in her head trying to think what could happen if we practice switching or if we should just keep things as they are now.


    An hour later of being on the same page of her book and only absorbing a single paragraph, she put it away. <Fine.>


    <Fine what?> I asked, like I didn''t know.


    <Let''s try to fight for control. I don''t see what else could go wrong.>


    <We just don''t know what could go wrong. I wish we had another Voyager here we could talk to about this.> I said, having second thoughts now.


    <Novos, I''ve been reading a book with a Voyager in it...> She said.


    <Wait, really? I wasn''t paying attention. I thought you just grabbed another romance.>


    <Well, it is a romance. But that''s beside the point. The writer seemed to know more about Voyagers than we were told.>


    <Like?>


    <Voyagers only have memories of their past life.> She said simply.


    I thought on this for a moment. <So...>


    <They don''t have a second mind in their heads.>


    <So...>


    <They have two conduits they can freely control. One is usually very normal while the other is absurdly large and usually has a special affinity. But there is no second mind like you.> She continued her explanation.


    <I think I need to read that book.> I said.


    <That was about all there was. The author used a Voyager as a lover for the main character. Would have been much more exciting if there was a second mind, that''s why it I was reading it. But I started to lose interest.>


    <So, am I... are we really a Voyager?> I asked.


    She didn''t say anything.


    <So we''re something new? Or another kind of Voyager? Interesting.> I thought aloud.


    <So maybe we should see the extent of what we can do? I mean... like you said, it would be easier to defend ourselves if we can switch faster.>


    <I''m more wondering why the church didn''t raise any questions when I started talking to them as a second mind that day during your awakening. They acted like this is perfectly normal. There might be more to this.>


    <I kinda want to practice more now...> She said, worried what kind of mess we might be tied up in now.


    <Right. I''ll try to take control of your right hand. Try to fight me.> I said. I gave her a moment to mentally prepare herself and then I went for it.


    It was a new sensation trying to wrench control from her actively. It felt like icy needles were jabbing into my arm while I was trying to take control. I could see the arm shaking through her vision while I was doing this. I tried to move the little finger and it twitched. She mentally fought back against my attempts at stealing control and she was succeeding for the most part. She maintained full control while I could only make things shake.


    <I''m going to try for the right leg as well now.> I said to prepare her.


    I don''t know why, but for some reason I felt like the right half of the body would just be a better choice to take control of. She was right handed, so it gave her some extra level of strength to fight me. I split focus to both the right leg and the right arm and the icy needles spread with them. Boring into the skin. I had to embrace them in order to advance, which I found out the first day I needed to struggle to see after her awakening.


    Then the needles spread without my trying to spread them. They started attacking the right abdomen and chest. I felt them pierce into the eyes and skull.


    <Novos, I don''t feel anything on my right side anymore!> She screamed in her head. I tried to pull back, but was unsuccessful. The stabbing stopped, but I had full control of the right side of her body. I tried to relinquish control, but it felt like I belonged to this half.


    All struggling ended. I tried to pull myself back from all control. I lost vision in the left eye. I lost all feeling from the left side of the body. I just sat there as a half-girl.


    <O-kay, this isn''t good.>


    <What did you do, WHAT DID YOU DO?> A familiar voice screamed at me in the head. At least our connection isn''t severed. But I am no longer needing to work to maintain any control. This is... novel.


    I purse my lips. Ah, I have control over the mouth, throat, and breathing. This... It can''t be. Don''t tell me the cure for Celestine''s seizures before I became aware was what I am thinking...


    "I think we need to have a talk with the church." I said aloud. The left hand was griping the face trying to figure out why she can''t talk. I sighed. Fuck.

 Chapter 21

    We took a moment to sit and try to calm down, mostly for Celestine''s sake. If she had control of the lungs she would be hyperventilating now.


    I''ve been trying to relinquish control like I usually do, but nothing is changing. I have absolute control over this half of the body and she has absolute control over the other. As an experiment, I lit a small ball of light with magic in the right hand and I managed to calm Celestine down enough to light one with the left hand. Each spell is being powered independently of one another. In this state, we each have full access to our conduits without them intersecting or influencing each other. After that attack on Warran, it felt like her conduit was forced open wider.


    Now that I can compare her magic to mine, it seems the reason her conduit was a little wider was due to my conduit intersecting and influencing hers. This is just my interpretation, though. We still don''t know enough about magic to know for certain. While her conduit hasn''t changed, her control over it has advanced. Her spell is refined and pulsing to let off as much light as possible with the least amount of power, while mine is raw light with little influence.


    "How did you learn to pulse the light like that?" I asked with the mouth. Seems like her focus was on the light and it was helping to calm her down more.


    <Sometimes at night, my dreams will show bits from your memories. Since you aren''t usually in my dreams with me all the time, I made it a habit to keep that a secret. I''ve been learning a lot. Like how some lights in your world will appear to be on, but it is actually pulsing on and off. It just happens so fast the eye can''t see it. I''ve been trying to copy that so my light spells can be brighter or last longer.> She explained, controlling the pulsing of her spell a bit to demonstrate.


    <You can remember your dreams?> I ask.


    <Not entirely, but things like this sort of stick out and if I think about them enough when I wake up, I can remember them.>


    <You haven''t learned anything you shouldn''t have, have you?> I ask, dreading if my memories ended up spoiling-


    <You mean like sex?>


    Mother''s not going to be happy about that.


    <I don''t get why I wasn''t told about sex by momma earlier. It seems like something you should tell a girl, you know? I''m glad I found out about it from your memories before I had my first period, now I know what to expect. Also, a lot of bits in my romance novels make more sense now. Always weird how it went from kissing to the bedroom and then nothing else written about it like the reader was just supposed to know what happens next and then the next day characters behave differently. Though, I guess the reader was supposed to know what happened. For a while I was thinking just sleeping together in the bed was something of a big deal. Is that why momma took out a bunch of books when we first moved in? Were they more detailed?>


    <Mother would have told you everything you needed to know before you had to worry about that stuff. I''m not commenting on this any more. Ask Mother about everything you want to know about that. I''m going to have to start paying attention to your dreams from now on.>


    <Maybe I will!> She stopped casting her light spell and tried to get up from the chair. But only one leg moved, of course. <Oh right. We have a problem right now...>


    <We''ll deal with everything you said later. Yes, we have a problem. We need to get to the church. I need to figure out what they did to you to stop your seizures. Maybe Charcoal Man will know something.>


    <Charcoal Man? You mean the creepy guy with black eyes? I don''t want to talk to him!>


    <Then I will talk to him. Come on, let''s get up.> I said, dreading this bit.


    We stood up. And... it wasn''t as hard as I thought it would be. We each control one leg, we can move them independently, and we have no trouble coordinating steps. This... seems pretty normal actually.


    <Well, let''s see if we can get dressed like this.> I said. We walked casually to Celestine''s room and changed out of her lounging dress, which was just a simple peach dress that stopped short of her knees, and into a white no-sleeve blouse and teal skirt combination. A wide cloth belt wrapped around her waist. If we''ve learned anything from Mother, it''s how to dress well and still stay cool. Can''t just go around wearing sundresses all the time.


    So, dressing didn''t trouble us at all either. We just worked together to accomplish the goal of dressing the body. One arm did what it needed to while the other did what it needed to. We did a quick spin in front of the mirror on the dresser and something caught my eye. My eye, the one I see out of, to be exact. The right eye''s pupil is flashing brightly with static. And the single point of changing light usually present in both eyes was not in the left eye at all.


    <Is this some sort of progression of my type of Voyager?>


    <I don''t want to not be able to speak again! Let''s go to the church and figure things out, Novos!> She cried in my head. I nodded to her in the mirror. I need to put myself in her perspective. While we are split on control of most everything, I have control of the speech and breathing, so this is not ideal for her. It is her body after all.


    I put on the straw sun hat and make our way to the front door. Of course Mother found us. She was standing on the foot of the staircase looking up at us standing about halfway down. She had this ''gotcha'' look about her with her hands on her hips. "Where did you think you''re go-"


    "Mother." I said plainly. She knew only I called her Mother. It was an easy way to tell just who was speaking to her, Celestine or Novos.


    Her expression changed to one of serious worry now. She had to have noticed the eye. I rarely speak to her, after all.


    We make our way down the stairs, I grab Mother''s hand with the hand I am in control of and we pull her into the dining room. I don''t know how well sound can travel in this hall and I don''t want to find out, though I believe Daemon already suspects something after Warran''s outburst in this hall the day I attacked him. Mother wants to keep me a secret from him, so I will do my best to help with that.


    I pull Mother over and had her sit on a chair so she was head-height with us. "Something of an accident has happened. While we were trying to train control over the body, we lost control and now we each control half. I have the right side and Celestine has the left. I also have the mouth and breathing portion of the body."


    Mother slightly nodded, but didn''t say anything.


    "We need to visit the church to ask them about what they did to Celestine when she was young and was sick before I came along. The last treatment they did, did they cut something?"


    She just nodded again.


    "Did they tell you any specifics?"


    "They just said it was last-ditch treatment recommended by one of the founders of Arture... It was like a miracle though." Mother leaned forward and pulled us into her embrace. She pulled off the sun hat and pressed her face against the top of the head. We lightly returned the hug.


    Without leaving the embrace, I continued, "I am not a normal Voyager, Mother. We know this now. We are going to the church. I need to ask them specifics about the treatment and this founder."


    "I''ll go get ready." Mother said, pulling away from us.


    "No, you don''t need to. We can go ourselves." I said.


    "No." Mother said sternly.


    "Mother. You do not need to worry. We can take care of ourselves on a short walk to and from the church."


    "I-"


    "And I almost killed Warran once." She was looking into my eye. The eye that was static. I could see it reflected in her green eyes. "We''re five you know, we can be outside for a little while. You don''t need to worry, okay? We''ll stay on the main roads." I smiled.


    "I don''t want you to go alone..." Mother said, looking down.


    "We aren''t alone. We have each other, after all."


    She nodded. I need to lighten the mood.


    "When we get back, Celestine needs to have a talk with you. Mother, I kinda accidentally revealed how babies are made to her." I didn''t know the proper word for sex in this language, so the talk needed to happen eventually anyway.


    "You what?!" Ah, anger. That''s better than moping. "She''s too young!"


    "It was an accident!" I took a step back, pulling the sun hat from her hand. "My memories got into her dreams somehow, so I don''t even know what all she saw."


    <I saw everything.>


    I took a few steps back. Mother rose to her feet. "Well, we''ll be back soon!"


    <From both perspectives.>


    <You will forget everything then!> I demanded. We took a few steps back, put the straw sun hat on, and bolted for the front door. Mother moved to grab us, but a well-placed wind gust spell by Celestine tripped her and she fell forward against the wall. We rushed into the main hall, put our sandals on, and rushed out the door into the hot desert sun.


    "Sorry, Mother! Love you, be back soon!" I shouted, closing the door and running out the front gate and onto the road. We ran toward the main road and further away from Mother''s fury. I don''t think she was chasing us, but I didn''t want to dally and let her catch up to us either. We will probably get a red ass when we come home for that stunt...


    We stopped briefly in the wider main road to catch our breath. I pulled a paper fan out from under the cloth belt and opened it to help dry off the sweat already covering our face. There were a few wooden carts sitting by houses with men working to unload crates of items. It looked like they were filled with jugs of water. We were in the well-to-do area of Arture after all, so this must be how each house is supplied with water then.


    We looked around at a few other people walking around, everyone in clothes they probably shouldn''t be wearing for this kind of environment. Their sweaty faces proving me right. There was another girl that looked about twelve Earth-years old running toward the center of the city in an outfit similar to ours, blouse and skirt. Seems like it doesn''t become fashionable to sweat like a pig in fancy, ill-suited for desert clothes until you''re an adult.


    We made our way toward the center of the city as well. The tall black-stone church was a significant landmark. It is hard to get lost in this city because that church should be visible from everywhere as long as you''re looking for it. That would actually be a good place to set up a guide post. A couple bronze coins for directions and you could make a decent living in the city.


    The closer we got to the church, the older some of the buildings got. I can clearly see the mark of time on some of the stone brick houses. Several cracks up walls that have had attempts at repair done to them by filling in the cracks with mortar. One building looked like a puzzle with how many cracks there were on the walls. I suspect the house was either abandoned or the owner just didn''t care what the outside of their house looked like. This was supposed to be the richer side of town, so that surprised me. In a world of magic, why haven''t they tried using earth magic to repair the stone?


    I put the fan in Celestine''s hand and she started fanning us from the left now. I kinda like this teamwork we have going. I wouldn''t mind staying like this, though there''s the whole her not being able to talk problem to worry about. After we figure out what''s happened to us, we can worry about that.


    As we got closer to the center of town, the crowd started to thicken. People walking around the church going from one place to another. I saw a few more dog-people with leather collars on their necks walking around as well. Furry arms and parts of their head were also covered in hair down their neck. They were wearing the typical clothing of Arture lower-class. The clothes that acted only to protect modesty and left as much bear skin as possible to keep cool. Essentially, the men wore only shorts and the women wore shorts and a bra. One of them even had his mouth open and was panting like a dog. I want to learn more about them, but another time maybe.


    We folded the paper fan up and I put it back in the little pocket on the inside of the cloth belt. We also had a few coins in here too for spending money if we needed it. Mother had given us some after we returned home from shopping for supplies to make the chess set many days ago.


    We weaved through the crowd and entered the church. A light breeze wafted over us. The church has long since been repaired from the awakening ceremony that ended in disaster. I took the sun hat off our head and we held it in front of us in both hands as he entered. Some of the murals on the walls and ceiling still need to be repainted, but the structure itself is fixed. The windows have had their stained glass replaced. The light crystals are all hanging from the ceiling just like before. A few parishioners were sitting in stone pews praying with their heads down.


    Celestine lifted her hand off the hat and used it to pull some loose hair out of the face and behind her ear. After she was done, she held the hat and I did the same with my hand. All the while, we were looking around for familiar faces. A few blue acolytes were near the front of the half-circle church cleaning. To our left was a closed door to the lower floor. Further in, there were more doors to our right to offices I remembered being open the last time I was here, all closed. I don''t know what I was really expecting when I decided to come here. Open arms and a hug? It''s a rather quiet place when a service isn''t happening.


    We quietly walked to one of the empty pews and sat. We looked around and toward the various people in black robes with their colored galaxies. I never bothered to commit their faces to memory. Well, that''s not true. There were a few I bothered to remember. Like Charcoal Man, the beautiful older blonde woman, and the head priest were the three that stuck out in my memory. If yoga pants woman is here, I don''t recognize her in her proper robes.


    We sat for roughly ten minutes just admiring the work done to fix the church. If not for the missing chunks of artwork, you wouldn''t even recognize if anything had been damaged. This is the kind of work I thought earth magic could produce. Not even a crack in the ceiling.


    A door opened behind us. We turned to watch the head priest leaving an office. He had a book and some folders under his arm. He locked the office behind him and slipped the key under the collar of his robe where it hung as a necklace. He looked around and his eyes met ours. He gave us a smile between the hairs that made up his white beard and walked over to the pew we sat on. We slid further away from the end so he could sit with us.


    "Hello little Celestine. Been a while since I''ve seen you visit. If we didn''t get the occasional visit from your mother, I would have thought you skipped town on us." He said softly with a chuckle while sitting down beside us. "While I have you here, I wanted to get your opinion on the new portraits for the ceiling murals. Since we needed to repaint the inside of the church, I decided to go all out and ordered portraits straight from Sirius. These here are interpretations approved by the largest church in Sirius, you see." He said pulling a folder out of his stack and opening it up.


    Within were highly detailed artistic renderings of humans in various poses to match with the constellations they were represented by. Each picture had one central figure surrounded by smaller figures, which I assume represent the minor gods that serve under the main god represented. There was one male figure holding a ball of white light with many others underneath him holding smaller lights all backdropped by sky blue. The next one was a beautiful woman tending a field of greens while her helpers were caring for babies on vine hammocks. A man with a dog in another portrait holding down an animal that looked like a deer. Behind him were other men cooking on a campfire. The next one was a skeletal figure carefully sifting through bones and flesh, this one was rather morbid actually. There were other skeletal figures around him tending to graves. A woman was visible in the next one with large muscles hefting huge blocks of rock on her shoulders. Others nearby either helping her or carrying rocks of their own. A man on fire in the next one, but with a very bored-looking face about him. Trees and people around him were also on fire, but were very content about the whole ordeal. This is fine. The last one was a circular portrait of a large man with a black beard and starry eyes looking forward in a backdrop of stars. All seven portraits were a bit morbid and beautiful all in one. None of the images seemed to go together. They stand on their own as different representations of the seven major gods. Of which, I don''t quite remember the names I gave them over a year ago. If the religion isn''t limited to this city, maybe there''s something more to it.


    "I was about to go hire painters to recreate these up above in the ceiling. The six surrounding %$#&$## in the middle. Do you think that would look nice?" He said, pointing up. We looked up and saw what was left of the scarred old paintings. What was formerly black with just the typical white stars connected by imaginary lines and outlines to make the six constellations with a white galaxy in the center.


    "We think they would look lovely. Though... the bony one could use some artistic liberty." We looked back down at the portraits and then back up at the ceiling, "might lose some detail with how high up it is. They could also be painted and hung like regular paintings between the office doors? That way they could be enjoyed from a distance and also the detail can be seen closer up."


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    He took out a small notebook and made some notes with a bonechar pencil. "I take it I''m talking to Novos?"


    "We''re both here. That''s actually the reason we came today. We''re having a bit of a problem and I wanted to speak with whoever was in charge of Celestine''s treatments before I came along."


    "The illness? You had a name for it I think... Anyway, that would be Jorald. He took special interest in your case and recommended the last treatment himself." He said, closing the notebook he had. "What problem are you having?"


    "To put it simply, we want to know what secrets you''re keeping from us and what has been done to us."


    He held his bonechar pencil to his lips for a bit and tapped his finger against it in thought. "Well, I don''t see the harm in it. I take it that''s why you''re here alone? Sylvianna knows your here, right?"


    "Mother knows we''re here, yes. She''s not thrilled that we are out by ourselves, but we can''t stay in her shadow forever."


    "Alright then. Come with me. It''s good that you''re able to leave the house on your own again. Some of your old playmates from your old neighborhood ask about you. If you have time, perhaps you could pay them a visit. Sylvianna''s overprotection of you isn''t healthy, I say." He slowly stood up and walked carefully out of the pew. I just noticed he didn''t seem to have his bone cane anymore. Perhaps he has his good days and bad days. We followed behind him. "Diane was the one who actually performed the treatments since restructuring magic is her affinity, but she''s treating someone downstairs right now. If you need to know specifically about the last one, Jorald should be able to fill in all the details. The procedure was translated from Founder Sibylle''s instructions on treating the illness you had."


    We walked to one of the offices, not the office the head priest came out of, and he knocked on the door. A shuffling of papers could be heard before a "come in." The head priest opened the door and entered. We walked in right behind him.


    "Head Priest Hohn, did you need something?" It was Charcoal Man! Celestine grunted in frustration in our head. But I kinda liked the guy myself. His eyes caught ours, "Ah! Celestine! Novos! Welcome!"


    "Jorald, they had something to discuss with you. No secrets." The head priest said, eliciting a slight nod from Charcoal Man. "I need to go find some painters for this. Take care, you three." The head priest said before leaving and closing the door behind him. We were left alone in the office with Charcoal Man.


    A short pause happened with just us staring at each other before he broke the silence, "please! Sit sit, let''s talk. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Can I get you something to drink?"


    We moved closer to his wooden desk and sat on a chair in front of it. We placed the sun hat on our lap. "No, thank you. We wanted to discuss the treatment that was used to heal the seizures Celestine suffered the year before I made myself known."


    "Ah, so Novos talking huh? Right. No secrets." He lightly clapped his hands together and closed his eyes in thoughts. "There''s no easy way to say this. After exhausting all treatment options available to us, we attempted a procedure from a partially translated journal by Founder Sibylle. That''s why you''re here right? She was a Voyager and her journals were written in the language of her previous world for secrecy. She and her companions helped build Arture roughly three hundred years ago. It''s actually a hobby of mine to work on trying to translate her ramblings. Very hard work."


    "What exactly is a Voyager?" I asked.


    "Simply, a person born with memories of their previous life. Voyagers have only been known to be human and they possess two conduits."


    "Okay, then what was the procedure?"


    "Straight to the point, alright." He turned around behind him and pulled a book off one of the shelves in the bookcase behind him. He turned back to us and looked through it. He stopped on the page he was looking for. "After you mentioned the word seizure, I went back and put what we did in better context. Essentially, we just matched symptoms and carried out the procedure. Luckily she left some detailed drawings in her journals. Symptoms included body shaking, loss of motor control, difficulty breathing, strange eye movements, among others." He placed the book on the desk to show us. There was a crinkly piece of paper carefully pasted onto new paper with a combination of Latin characters and this language''s written characters. But very clearly there was a picture of a human brain and a scalpel drawn showing a line between the hemispheres. "This treatment shows severing the halves of the brain from one another, either partially or fully, can cure these symptoms. Of course, we were only going off this drawing, so we very well could have killed you. For that, I am desperately sorry. This was the last possible treatment option we had left."


    While looking at the page, I was able to recognize the language. "This is German..." I said aloud.


    "Can you read it?" His eyes lit up.


    I picked up the book and looked over the page. The entire journal entry was cut out and covered in, what I assume was, some sort of preservative paste that allowed the page to be read while still allowing it to escape the threat of degradation. I could read it. But I didn''t want him to know that.


    Translated, it read, ''Fall 1st, 1220. Split-brain procedure and reason for future Voyager.'' Voyager wasn''t in German, ''I was born in a little village in the coldest regions of Sirius. I hate that country. I will never return there for as long as I live. The village was isolated enough to have its own culture, to an extent. They would bind newborns with a spacial magic spell that restricted their abilities to perform magic. The spell itself was simple, it allows only magic power to flow within the body and stops them from gathering more power. Essentially useless for anyone without a restructuring affinity. But with me, there was a unique byproduct of this that I attribute to my being a Voyager. From the descriptions by my parents, I would have bouts of seizures. These only started after the binding procedure, so they quickly lifted it from me and that is when I became aware. Knowing the binding procedure could cause seizures to Voyagers, I was able to convince Tanett to let me influence Arture''s culture and religion to an extent where the binding procedure can occur here as well. As a Voyager, migrants will be quick to adopt my methodology and the change won''t interfere with his plans for the city anyway. The snake people might even see this as a bonus since the binding stifles growth of those under it, keeping the residents weak in their eyes. It works to my ends. Once the city grows to a decent population, all I need to do is wait for a child to come to me with seizures in this closed environment and I can perform the procedure to cure them. Instead of unbinding them, though, I will sever the hemispheres of their brain, a common procedure for the disease on Earth. I have my theories on the reason for the seizures, but I won''t know for certain until I have a test subject. After the procedure, if the seizures cease, then I will monitor the child to see if a Voyager still develops. If one does not, no harm should come to the child anyway. If a Voyager isn''t born within my lifetime though, I am writing down the procedure in such a way that my replacements can perform it. Even if I die, I want this world to know what could happen. I hope this journal can last until then. Experiments that can last generations are annoying.'' After the brief explanation, symptoms of seizures were written in several Earth languages, including something that looks like an archaic script of the language used in Arture. The grammar is terrible, though. But I guess that''s three hundred years of language evolution for you. Then there''s the drawings of the procedure.


    "Sorry, I can''t understand it. One of my lives lived in the area of this language, but I lived there too early. I only know the previous version of the language." I lied. "This right here looks like our language, though."


    "Ah, you''re right. That''s an old variant of Siriusian, the general language spoken on Sirius. We were separated from them for a while, though, so our speech somewhat drifted apart. Our specific tongue is called Arturan Siriusian." He said and I translated the language names loosely.


    While reading, I had translated everything to Celestine as well, as well as my conclusion.


    So... we really are something new. They severed the brain... Without that, and had the magic bind just been removed, I would have woken up and just been reincarnated in this body, no Celestine. I would be Celestine but there would be no Celestine. But because of what they did, somehow Celestine''s half of the brain took control. I am not just in Celestine''s body.


    We are Celestine.


    I am the left half of the brain and she is the right half. On Earth, normal split-brain patients cannot communicate with the other half. The right is silent but controls the left half of the body. The left side holds the speech center of the brain and controls the right side. More useless knowledge from my last life coming to use here. Also explains why Celestine is trying to move into the arts. That''s a specialty of the right side.


    <You''ve managed to develop as your own self because of this split while I have already had a developed identity. So the reason we can communicate in this world is because there is something here not available on Earth that bridges the gap. Something that replaces the physical connection between us.> I mused to Celestine.


    <Magic.> Celestine answered quickly.


    <So, the reason we''ve been able to act as we have for the last year is because we''ve been bypassing the cut in the brain with magic? What school of magic does that even fall under?> I asked.


    <Why does it have to fall under any school of magic! Why does magic have to be categorized? It''s so dumb.>


    "Ahh..." I sighed out loud.


    <I still want my body back.> She chimed in.


    <You''re going to be selfish now? Of all times? We just figured out it''s both our body and now you want to take it from me?> I answer back with fake sobs. <If anything, it''s my body because of this split brain thing. You aren''t even supposed to be able to talk!>


    <But it''s not faaaair, Novoooos!> She wined.


    <Calm down, we''ll figure this out when we get home. I''m not going to take the body for myself.>


    Charcoal Man was just sitting there watching us monologue internally. When we looked back up to him, he had a bright smile on his face. "So you did understand it." Our little back and forth was not instant. We pretty much were just looking down at the book in our hands without our eyes moving.


    "Fine, I''ll translate it for you!" I declared. "The cause of the seizures was the binding spell. Sibylle set up that whole practice to lure a Voyager into it so you could do this to me!" I shook the book. "And I don''t want you to do this to anyone else! Anyone with seizures, first treatment is the removal of the bind. No light show, just do it! The whole culture here was a human experiment! What year did this bitch die on Earth? I need to know now." I flipped through the pages all the way back to the front cover. There with her name and descriptions of her environment in Sirius was a fucking swastika doodle. Fucking damn it, she was a Nazi doctor. This makes sense now. At least she didn''t try to cause a genocide after she was reborn, though from these first few pages it sounds like she thought she was on Earth and was planing to complete Hitler''s plans where he failed since no one around her spoke German. She mellowed out and cast aside her former, male, self after the realization. There''s a note in Arturan that states the original book had several ripped out lost pages at this point.


    I closed the book and held it to my forehead, contemplating if I should destroy it. She was a doctor, so the odds of her knowing about nuclear fission is low. Especially around this point in time. If she had died after 1945, which she didn''t, then she would know about Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I have to be careful here. This is a Voyager''s journal from a time very close to the discovery of the atomic bomb and she lived about three hundred of this world''s years ago. She was part of the founders of this city. If there are any Voyagers alive on this world, they are likely from the time of my last life or from the last twenty years. They will know about atomic theory. I hope anyone who tried to use elementalism to nuke something killed themselves and took that knowledge with them to the next life.


    There is zero chance that Sibylle wrote anything about atomic theory in here. It should be safe for Charcoal Man to keep translating on his own. After a moment of thought, I sat the book down on the desk. Charcoal Man let out a huge sigh of relief. I lifted our hands off the book and I look at them both change color from white to blush red as blood flowed back into them. We must have been holding that book very tightly.


    I took a deep breath and decided to continue to conversation. "Sorry. Just... If you manage to translate that further, don''t take what she says as some sort of gospel. She was only human."


    "Right." He said, slowly picking the book back up and placing it beside him on the desk, probably wanting to keep it away from me in case I change my mind.


    "Our situation is a result of this experiment of hers, but there were too many uncontrolled conditions so it''s difficult to tell exactly what led to... this." I waved to our body.


    "If you don''t want to tell me, then I won''t ask." Charcoal Man said briefly.


    "Right now, we have a new problem. That''s why I asked about the treatment. But I think I might have a solution. Does any kind of magic exist that can influence the mind?"


    He leaned back in his chair and thought a bit. "That''s a field that is difficult for me to say. Nothing specific in Arture, no. Not unless someone is doing some seriously unethical studying underground. The magic itself is odd to place into a school. The spell we use to put someone to sleep falls under restructuring magic. But those kind of spells cannot influence thoughts, at least as far as I know. You would do better to ask an elf since Eldwen uses some very... mean practices to interrogate heretics of their religion. Don''t like that place very much myself. I''m glad we have an ocean between us."


    "The elves don''t believe in our gods?"


    "Noo of course not. Their whole species is monotheistic, they only believe in one god and they use prophets to rule their lands. Elves talking to a god." He scoffed


    "What about the awakening ceremony? Weren''t the acolytes convening with the gods?" I asked.


    "No secrets." He mumbled to himself. "It''s not necessarily speaking. The crystals above each acolyte are tuned to the seven gods and through them we interpret their will. Seems $&%$^@##$ was not happy with you for some reason. It''s like an emotion that we can feel in relation to who is on the altar. If someone isn''t at least seen as neutral by all seven, we stop the awakening and try to figure out why. But $&%$^@##$ backed down before we could end it. The crystals themselves aren''t part of the unbinding procedure. The bind is just a simple spacial magic spell. A child young enough can have it applied without trouble, but it''s impossible to apply the seal on adults. What the elves claim to do is speak to their god as I am speaking to you now."


    "Does the elf god exist?"


    "Of... course? Why wouldn''t he?"


    "If their god exists then why do we not worship him as well? And why do they not worship ours?"


    He took a moment to scratch his head. "Oh, I think I understand. The world Voyagers come from only has humans, right? I think Sibylle said that in her journal somewhere. Managed to translate that because she mentions this ''Gott'' a lot in the early entries. There would only be a few gods, so human clashed over which religion was truth. Am I right?"


    I nodded.


    "Here, on this world, the gods pick favorites. The gods we worship are the patron deities of Man and #$^%$&#. The elves have their patron deity. I wonder if we should change how we teach this during services... That bit didn''t seem to stick with you."


    "Sorry, we just never paid much attention during the services." I said. "Nothing wrong with the preachings..." I tried to reassure.


    He looked as us oddly.


    "We haven''t been to the church in a year!"


    "Perhaps that''s something that should change, Novos and Celestine..."


    <Don''t bring me into this!>


    "I think that''s all we needed. And I will consider your advice." I said, standing up, handing the sun hat to Celestine''s hand. She held it to our left side. "We''ll visit again if we have more questions?"


    "Just give the door a knock when you visit. I''m usually in here. Especially now that I have to think on what we talked about." He pulled out a notebook and began writing on it with bone char.


    We showed ourselves out and shut the door behind us. A lot of questions answered, but now I''m afraid of the gods.


    <Well, Mother''s going to kill us when he get home. Want to look for something to snack on at the food shops now that we have a bit of spending money?> I asked, trying to lighten the mood.


    <I hope I can taste it in this state...> She had been sitting patiently while we were talking to Charcoal Man. I hope the taste buds are at least shared.


    <Nothing seems to be getting any worse, to it can only get better, right? We''ll ask Warran about mind magic when we have the free time. Hopefully he can help us.>


    <Right... I want something with sugar on it.>


    <Sugar it is.>

 Chapter 22

    Good news, we can both pick up on the sense of taste. I really should have expected that because we can also both feel the heat all over the body. Sensations like taste, touch, and smell must send their signals to another part of the brain we still share. Bad news is speech and sight are not one of those. So while we can sit on a stone bench and enjoy this crystallized sugar treat on a bone skewer, only I can make the appropriate ''noming'' noises. But since I have enough self control not to do that, I have to listen to Celestine making them in our head.


    <mMMmmmn...>


    I let her have free reign on the eating of this while I think. But that''s a bit difficult.


    <Celestine, please stop doing that.>


    <Don''t wanna.>


    <At least try to enjoy it a little slower. People are staring.>


    <Fine.>


    So the ridiculous ''noming'' slowed down to a simple ''nyegh'' while she licked it.


    Finally back to relative silence, I decided to calm myself down a bit and try to think about our place in the world a little more. This glorified bit of rock candy was ridiculously expensive. Thirty bronze coins for this. No wonder people are staring. We just spent enough money for them to feed their families for three days on a treat.


    Huh, I don''t think I''ve mentioned the currency yet. Well, everything is paid for us, so we''ve never really had to think about it. Typical fantasy currencies, except they use bronze instead of just straight copper. The exchange rate changes all the time with the price of the metals, but it''s usually around eighty bronze for one silver and seventy silver for one gold. From what we''ve gathered from the novels Celestine reads, each city has its own exchange rate based on the scarcity of the metals and it changes frequently. For example, a city right next to a silver mine might see the exchange rate of bronze to silver around twenty while the rate of silver to gold could be up there near one hundred. There''s no centralized currency so anyone can make the coins if they want to. Depends on individuals if they want to use your coins, though. There are usually special precious metals unions in cities that deal in coins and manufacture them. Some of the larger cities might have competing currencies backed by nobility. It''s an odd system, but it seems to work. The value is the metal in the coins themselves. This is why bronze is used instead of straight copper. You can make more bronze coins by substituting some of the copper for tin. Foreign coins coming into cities tend to wind up in the hands of metals unions that grade them, refine them, and reforge them.


    This was also explained to us when Mother gave us the money. All of the money Arture has in circulation comes in from other parts of the continent because Izaibus, the strip of land we call home, doesn''t possess much in the way of useful mineral resources. Lots of sand. But no reason to dig under it. Even further south, where the land becomes more forested, there''s no other reason to go there because of the hostile species that call that area home. Not even the trees are worth the risk of going there. And since the elfenoid, the word for human-like literally translates to elf-like, species to the north is hostile to humans, all traffic to and from Arture is from the sea. No surveys have been done of the land further north from Arture, which borders the mineral-rich demon land Saddath. Because of that, the currency exchange rate in Arture is high. So the fact we paid for this sweet with a single silver coin means our belt is now weighed down with fifty bronze coins. So now we have to figure out something else to buy or we will be walking home jingling like one of Santa''s helpers.


    We had already had lunch before our accident. Mother will be even more angry with us if we keep buying sweets and spoil our dinner so another candy is out of the question. I suppose we could buy more materials for bone carving, but that might be difficult given our current circumstances. Celestine did say she wanted to learn how to paint. Maybe a stationary shop would be a good option. Paints and canvas might be too far out of our price range though, so maybe a sketchbook with some bone char sticks might be a good alternative?


    I was brought out of my thoughts by a loud crunch. Ah, Celestine bit through the last of the candy and was chewing on it now. She had been diligently licking and biting bits off the skewer until all that was left was a bit of candy stuck to the base.


    I pulled a handkerchief out of our cloth belt and started rubbing our lips clean while she wanted to keep licking the skewer.


    <That''s enough. Let''s goto a stationary shop.>


    <I''m not done yet!>


    <Yes you are.>


    <Why are we going to the stationary shop anyway?> She asked, trying to take another lick of what''s left of the candy.


    I pocketed our handkerchief and took the skewer out of her hand. <You wanted to learn how to draw right? We have to spend the extra bronze coins we have.>


    <Ugh, how am I supposed to draw like this?> She tried to take the skewer back.


    <Let''s not fight, we look ridiculous.> Lefty was trying to take the skewer out of Righty. We''re probably getting more odd looks now than when we were just eating the thing. <Just think of this as more practice. Imagine how amazing we could be if we learn how to be both right and left handed.>


    <You want me to draw with the left hand? That...>


    <It could help us with our communication problem for the time being. If you become proficient in writing with our left hand, that should suffice until we figure out how to let you speak?> Though, I would prefer if we could just switch places. Things would be so much simpler if Celestine were left-brain and I was right. I was always content with just sitting in the back of the mind and going along for the ride. I never wanted this. Though I guess I asked for it. The whole point of the exercise was to get better at controlling the body at a moment''s notice and, well, gotta take the good with the bad. Part of that bad was I could no longer look into her surface thoughts like I used to. I probably won''t be able to enter her dreams anymore either. I''ll leave testing that for tonight, though.


    <Is there nothing else we could do?> Celestine clearly didn''t like our situation.


    <I want to go back to the way things were, too, and we will try to fix it. But we should still prepare for the long haul. We were going to need a sketchbook for you anyway. So even if we figure this out, it will still be useful.>


    <Okay.> She nodded the head. The duality we have is strange. If I didn''t know better, I would say I was the one who caused the head to nod. I''m going to need to keep that thinking in check.


    We gave the clean candy skewer back to the stall keeper that was selling the candy then went to the same stationary shop we visited with Mother to buy the board for the chess set. Ah, that''s something else I didn''t think of. We could avoid Daemon easily, but the problem was Sullivan. He would notice our new static-y right eye and would no doubt tell Daemon. I''ll have to ask Mother''s advice about this later because Celestine would never want to avoid her beloved half-brother.


    The exchange in the shop was pretty simple. A book bound in rings, about a centimeter wide each, with blank pages that allowed the writer to open to any page by flipping the front over and behind the sturdy back. The cover and back board seemed to be made of the same material, although thinner, as the board we bought for the chess game. There was actual wood paper inside the covers, though. Making this two-hundred page sketchbook cost a high two silver forty bronze. We were lucky he threw in a box of bonechar writing sticks for free, though we had to buy the small sharpening knife with our remaining bronze coins. We could probably just use our bone carving tools at home for this, but Celestine liked the idea of having dedicated tools for specific jobs. Since this was all for her, I didn''t argue.


    So we left the store with the sketchbook, bonechar box, with knife in the box itself, all under our left arm for the walk home. We were left with nothing but a single silver coin in our belt. We walked along the main roads like we promised Mother and made it home without any trouble. The trouble would be there when we walked through the door.


    The front gate was always unlocked, but the front door was always locked. That was something I always wondered. What was the point of a door lock when all someone with some simple knowledge of magic could blast it open with a fireball spell of some sort? This whole city really seemed way too peaceful for all the magic that was supposedly possible in this world. Did the whole sealing magic till adulthood thing really screw with peoples'' ability that much? Though the only people we''ve seen use magic are Mother, Warran, and the acolytes at the church. I know Mother and Warran weren''t born in Arture. Daemon isn''t either since there seems to be some shared history with Mother and Warran. We should ask Mother about her past sometime.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Ah, I''m just delaying the inevitable. We had already knocked on the front door and mother had been looking down glaring at us for about twenty seconds now. She had a bandage on her forehead. That wind spell must have done more than trip her. She probably fell into the wall and got cut.


    "Uhhm-uh..." I mumbled slightly. We looked down to avoided her stare. Never seen Mother''s anger directed at us quite like this before. This hurts.


    I mean this really hurts. She grabbed us by the right arm and was digging her nails into the skin. She pulled us inside and was dragging us upstairs. The door? Oh, she closed that already. "Ow ow ow ow ow owww!" I complained.


    Mother didn''t reply, she just dug her fingernails into the skin more as I complained. When we got upstairs, she pulled us to Celestine''s room and pushed us inside before coming in herself and closing the door. We were pushed to the bed, where we then sat, placing our purchases beside us and rubbing the arm with crescent marks in our skin.


    Mother pulled the desk chair out, positioned it in front of us, and sat down. "Explain." She said simply.


    I didn''t know what exactly she wanted me to explain, so I just started detailing the conversation we had with Charcoal Man, the contents of the journal, and my own knowledge on the matter at hand. I ended up spilling everything. The talk with the head priest about the new paintings, the exact phrasing in the journal and the implications of her previous life, the candy we bought, the reasoning for the sketchbook and bonechar, and most of my inner monologuing. I even spilled our desire to explore the world, though each in our own ways. I felt like everything was laid bare. I think a lot of what I said might have been over her head, but one thing was clear.


    "If I hadn''t stayed in this place, none of this would have happened. I should have gone to Hope after Daemon abandoned me." She said quietly. She started blaming herself now. While it was true if we were born somewhere else, what awaited me? A reincarnated person in some hilly green-filled village in a country with the name Hope? That''s what it was called, it was literally English for Hope. While that might have been preferable to a desert city protected by snake people, I wouldn''t have my roommate in that case. And we would be cut off of the lifeline that was Daemon''s seemingly endless income. There would be no relationship with Sullivan. We probably wouldn''t even know of his existence.


    "Mother." I said sternly. She was about to start crying before I spoke up. "If things hadn''t happened the way they did... I, Novos, would be the only one in here. There would be no Celestine as she has been."


    "Yes, you''re right." She looked down at the floor. "So it''s like I have two daughters..."


    "I guess you could look at it like that..." I said. I did want her to see me as her child, so this works.


    "Two very naughty daughters."


    "Huh?" I chirped before she reached over and grabbed our head with her right hand.


    "One taught the other something she shouldn''t have without asking me first." She started. "And which one tripped me?"


    "Heh heh, that one was Celestine."


    <TRAITOR!>


    "You probably wouldn''t have a leg if I was the one that did that... Mom." I plead my case, gave my evidence, and tried to butter up the jury with a more informal name.


    Celestine was flailing around with the left arm and leg, trying to grip onto Mom''s arm and force her away. I just kept Righty placed firmly on the bedspread.


    "And did you figure out a way for Celestine to talk as well?"


    "N-not yet. We bought some paper so she can practice drawing and writing with the left hand in the meantime, like I said. We planned on asking Warran if he knew anything that could help us." I said. "I-I can also try talking for her. It''s just not ideal."


    <I''m-sorry-I''m-sorry-I''m-sorry-I''m-sorry-I''m-sorry!!!>


    "She''s currently saying she''s sorry over and over again." I relayed.


    "And you?" I just noticed she''s been looking back and forth between eyes. She''s currently staring right into the eye I see out of.


    "I-uh it was an accident? I said she got that from her dreams right? Mom, this is all new to me." Lip quiver, good, maybe I can get out of this.


    "You ran when I wanted you to stay put." Ah.


    "Okay, well... we needed to goto the church, yeah?" I said in my defense.


    Her grip on our head got tighter. "Two very naughty daughters. One used magic on her own mother and the other ran from me. How can I ever forgive them..."


    "Uh, um... W-w-we love you?"


    "Sensations are split between both sides of the body?" She asked.


    "N-n-no, we both feel everything."


    "How can I know that for sure? Novos has been a naughty girl, she might be lying to me to lessen her punishment..."


    <When did I become a girl?!>


    <This was supposed to be your body, remember?>


    "Y-y-you could ask Celestine? She can write-"


    "Ahh, but what if this whole thing was a lie so my little girl could run out of the house for an afternoon without me. I might never be able trust her again~"


    "Th-that''s not fair!" I cried.


    She took her hand off our head and sat back on the chair. "Stand up. Skirt down. Bend over my legs."


    Can I skip this part? I''m skipping this part. We definitely didn''t get spanked twenty times on both buttcheeks while crying ''sorry'' over and over again with both our mouth and mind.


    Sometime after that ordeal, we had changed into our nightgown and were laying in our bed with Mom. Laying, not because it hurts to sit right now, but because we want to. While we were like this, we had ''the talk'' from start to end. I was really just a relay for Celestine to ask questions, but it wasn''t all pointless because now I know the words in their language for the various bodily functions, parts, and events. Particularly the dreaded period. I''ll spare the details and sum it up. Being a woman in this world is amazing when you are rich and sucks when you are poor. There''s a special, and super expensive, pea-sized magic crystal that a woman can keep pinned to a piece of clothing just below the navel that will completely alleviate pain from the cramps. It doesn''t do anything about the mess, but it stops one of the worst parts of being female from hurting. Those particular memories that filtered into Celestine''s dreams had her extremely worried and the solution took a weight off both our minds.


    After the lesson on bodily functions, everything seemed to be more-or-less right with the world again. Of course Mom never actually distrusted us, she just wanted to tease us and she apologized for that. She held us tightly against her body on the bed. I''ve never felt so close to her before. Before it was always Mom and Celestine with me in the back of her mind lost in other thoughts, letting the two have their moments. But right now, the feelings welling up in me just scream ''this is my mom, I love my mom.'' At the same time, though, the memories of all my past mothers flooded my mind. That amorphous being that I could recall with just as much love, but couldn''t distinguish a single one from the other. All my mothers, and even some fathers, blurred together into one single memory, overwritten many times, but never completely forgotten.


    I could recall facts from the memories of my past lives, things I learned from schools that never changed, but memories like my parents and siblings were always blurred together. Would the same happen to this life? I don''t want to forget Sylvianna.


    I softly began crying while Mom ran her fingers through our hair to comfort me. Celestine was trying to figure out why I was crying, but I never answered.


    I fell asleep for the first time since coming to this world. I had my own dreams and slept without Celestine within them. When we woke up, the dream faded from my memory. This is normal, this is how humans dreamed. But it was so alien to me now.


    I hated it.


    Mom wasn''t in bed with us when we woke up. She likely left the bed after we fell asleep.


    <Good morning, sis.> Celestine said in our head. Seems she came to some conclusion of her own last night.


    I was still apprehensive of completely taking the dive to femininity, let alone seeing Celestine as my sister, so I just responded out loud, "good morning, Celestine."

 Chapter 23

    <Call me sis too! Novos!> Celestine demanded.


    I was ignoring her while we leaned on the dresser to take a closer look at our eyes. The craziness of yesterday didn''t give me the opportunity to fully appreciate just how odd this looks. The left eye is perfectly normal. Brown iris surrounding a black pupil, contracted slightly because of the morning sun. The right eye is the problem. Brown iris surrounding the static that is ever present on the skin of my dream-self. Constant shifts of colors from all extremes flashing in and out of existence while surrounded in the normal brown eye. Even from a distance, the pupil''s colors blend together into a gray-brown color that isn''t natural.


    "We won''t be able to hide this from anyone." I mused out loud. Keeping this a secret from Sullivan and Daemon was going to be annoying. We could buy an eye patch, but then I wouldn''t be able to see at all then. Part of our unconscious coordination is the ability to see. It becomes difficult to move with one eye closed. Not impossible, but we get clumsy.


    <Novos!> Celestine was still trying to force this sibling relationship between us. She hasn''t shut up about it since my little greeting when we woke up.


    <We have other problems to deal with right now. We''re going to Warran''s room.> I said while we started to change out of our nightgown. A simple sleeveless shirt and shorts later and we were walking to the elf''s office. It was still early morning, but we could smell the scent of breakfast being made downstairs. Now that I thought on it, why exactly did Mom need to hire a chef? Surely she could cook for the five of us. Maybe she just wanted an excuse to spend Daemon''s money.


    We entered the other wing of the house and knocked on Warran''s door. After a pause, we knocked again and waited some more. After nothing happened, we opened the door to peek inside. The room was much cleaner than the last time we visited. The papers he had strewn about weren''t on the floor anymore. But his desk was piled high with them. Maybe that''s his organizing method, throw everything on the floor and slowly sort through it when you need it. A tall basket was in the corner full of wadded up papers and shreds. The elf himself was snoring on the desk using his arms as pillows. Normally something like this would be bad for someone''s back, but I guess that doesn''t matter when you have the power to immediately repair any spinal misalignment with magic.


    We entered the room and found a chair in front of the desk to sit down on. We leaned forward and picked up a loose paper on the desk to see what all the mess was about. The paper was very nice, almost like Earth copy paper. The writing on the paper, though, was nothing like we''ve seen before. Not even the writing in the journal in the church matched anything like this. It bore an odd resemblance to Arabic mixed with some Gaelic script, but consisted of none of the characters of either. I studied the page for a bit to try to commit the letters to memory before the page was forcibly pulled out of my hand by Lefty, who then put the page back where I took it.


    <No snooping, sis. Wake him up.>


    I sighed and rubbed the bridge of our nose, fighting a headache. She''s not going to stop with this is she...


    We look back up to the elf and he was already awake and looking at us. I jumped a bit at the sudden change. When was he such a light sleeper? Celestine struggled to get him to wake up when she came in here to show him that she could light a crystal the last time.


    He studied us for a bit. I could see his golden eyes moving back and forth between ours. He pulled a book from one of his piles and flipped it open and to another page. Then he looked at us again, then back at the book as if comparing us to the contents of the book. He closed it and looked back to us. "Sylvianna did say something about the Voyager in Celestine splitting the body. I thought it made no sense at all before. But now that I see you, it''s odd. Every book I received from Hope says Voyagers are just people reincarnated with two conduits and odd eyes, both eyes. Would you mind filling me in?"


    "I suppose it goes without saying that the Celestine you have interacted with for the last several weeks is nothing more than a normal child." I started.


    "After I was attacked, I had figured you to be a very good actor. I was terrified when I saw your eyes then. I thought I would actually die if that attack continued. I haven''t been that close to death in a looong time."


    "I''ll give you the short version. One of the founders of Arture was a Voyager. She used the isolationist nature of the city to impose the binding practice on children. This binding has the added effect of doing... something to Voyagers when they appear under it. Then when the effects showed, the church was instructed to perform a... brain treatment. That''s not the right word, I don''t know how best to translate it. They cut open the head and severed a connection in the brain. It allowed two distinct personalities to develop in the same body. While I, the Voyager, remained dormant, Celestine''s personality was left to develop. When I let myself be known, the church released the binding."


    "So it was after the treatment that they knew they had a Voyager on their hands? I''m guessing the instructions from the founder left that bit out?"


    We nodded. "It was all for the twisted curiosity of someone long dead." I spat out those last words with malice.


    "You humans can be so brutal with your researching sometimes, you know? I would have never thought to develop a whole city so far from civilization just for the off-chance to catch a Voyager in an experiment. Part of me wants to congratulate this founder for succeeding even in death." He chuckled.


    I balled my hand into a fist.


    He must have read my expression. "Ah, sorry. Continue?"


    I released my anger. "I don''t very much appreciate being part of someone''s experiment."


    "None of us can control the circumstances of our births. What matters is what we do from then on." Warran gave a bit of sage advice before continuing. "Sylvianna said you were practicing switching control of the body and something went wrong?"


    "Yesterday we had nothing to do and we started feeling out the level of control within the body we had. Celestine is the one with the smaller conduit, so if we could figure out how we can switch control of the body fast enough, we can better protect ourselves. Or at least that was the idea. Something sorta... broke. Now I, the Voyager, have control of the right half of the body, and speech, while Celestine has the left, and lacks the ability to speak. We visited the church yesterday to confirm my suspicions on the reason for this. Now we need to know how to get things back to the way they used to be."


    "Is there any reason you need to go back? By all rights, the second personality shouldn''t exist. The Voyager in the body IS Celestine. This might just be the body''s way of trying to revert back to its intended state."


    "Too much has changed. If the treatment had never happened, then you would have a point. But we are two in one now."


    "I could repair the damage in the brain. There''s always that option." Warran dropped a bombshell on me.


    "I-I have no idea what could happen then! Our personalities could easily merge or I could end up overpowering Celestine in that case. I don''t want that! I just want things to go back to the way they were! No more of this! I don''t want to be like this!" I shouted at first, then my voice got quiet and ended in a soft squeak.


    "Calm down, girl. I was just entertaining the idea. I can''t actually repair brain damage anyway. The brain is too delicate for my conduit to deal with." He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to us.


    My vision had gotten cloudy in my outburst. I brought my hand to our cheek and felt the wetness of tears. Why was I crying? The left hand accepted the handkerchief and wiped the tears out of our eyes. Celestine stayed quiet.


    "So why did you come to me if you weren''t thinking about me fixing your ''treatment''?"


    "The word for opening up someone and physically manipulating under their skin for healing, what is it?"


    "#$^%$#?" He asked.


    "Does that word best describe opening up the head and cutting something in the brain?"


    "I guess?"


    Then that word must be surgery or some equivalent.


    "We didn''t come to have the results of our surgery reversed. I actually had an interesting conversation with one of the acolytes there and I entertained the idea that we might be able to go back to the way we were, or at least give Celestine the ability to talk, if we learned some sort of mind magic. He said that''s something the Eldwen religious leaders use to deal with heretics?"


    It was Warran''s turn to sigh now. He had closed his eyes and brought his right hand up and behind his long ear. It twitched lightly like he was itching behind it while thinking. "It''s so strange to be outside Eldwen again. Something that could get you killed for saying out loud is so easily common knowledge here. I''m glad I left before the $%^$&^*#^@$#^ could get to me." He spoke that very quietly, but we heard it.


    He opened his eyes and coughed. "Celestine, if you ever visit Eldwen in the future, and I hope you do not, you must never mention mind magic. Mind magic is a subset of the identification school of magic. The name of the school itself isn''t exactly right either. It''s more like information manipulation. It''s one of the least understood of the rare schools of magic. Anyway, why do you think this would help you anyway?"


    "Before we were able to more or less inhabit the body and intermingle despite the physical separation. I believe some sort of unconscious mind magic might have been the reason for our state. Even now we can still communicate in the brain despite no actual physical connection in the higher brain. If we were to learn-"


    "Like I said," he interrupted, "it''s the least understood of the rare schools. Even the $%^$&^*#^@$#^ turn their heretic victims into nothing more than driveling retards after they are done siphoning them for information. That is not the path for fixing... whatever it is you think might have happened. Even if it was, you don''t have the affinity for identification magic. Your affinities are enchanting and some unknown god-level school."


    "What exactly are god-level schools? You never mentioned those."


    "This will be your lesson for the day. God-level schools of magic are incredibly rare schools that are usually only seen in Voyagers or a species''s #@%$#&@. Though there are some cases where people have been born with one without being a Voyager. There are only two schools known. The others have been lost. Temporal, which is time manipulation. And gravitational manipulation. Temporal allows a person to affect an object or person''s local time perception for a short time. Someone more versed can even halt their local time and pass forward in time while never moving or aging. There''s actually a Voyager in Hope doing that right now. Crazy fool. He was apparently born four hundred years ago and he travels forward in leaps of anywhere from thirty to sixty years. Gravity manipulation is a higher form of spacial manipulation that allows the mage to control the pull of gravity. A single mage with this affinity can flatten any monster flat without breaking a sweat. We only know about this one because of reports made during the Elven-Demon wars. I won''t go into detail on that, though. Too gruesome."


    "Now, you supposedly have a god-level affinity since the church couldn''t identify it. Since it couldn''t be identified, we can be safe to say it isn''t temporal. So it could be gravitational manipulation or something else."


    "Why could it not be temporal if it wasn''t identified?"


    "Because the temporal Voyager exists, the human gods should be able to tell any identifier the affinity. Once he dies, only those who have ever identified someone with temporal affinity will be able to correctly identify it on someone else. It''s difficult to explain. The gods do not tell us what we don''t know. So once everyone who knows of something dies, that something can no longer be identified perfectly until it is studied again. The best way to combat this is to keep records and accounts of the affinity, but the Voyager is very tight-lipped about his past life and anything to do with his affinity."


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I paused after his explanation before continuing, "I don''t understand..."


    "It''s best not to worry about it too much. I stopped trying to make sense of how identification magic works a long time ago." He waved his hand around dismissively. "So, do you have a name so I can distinguish you from Celestine?"


    "Novos. I gave myself the name Novos."


    "Hah, that sounds like some archmage''s name. Was there anything else you needed?"


    "Yes, do you have any idea how we might be able to hide the eye? We don''t want Daemon or Sullivan to know about me and the eye is a dead giveaway."


    "That I might be able to help with." He picked up another book and started looking through it.


    "You haven''t been sharing your interest with Voyagers with Daemon, have you?" I asked.


    "I listened to your mother, girl. I am not stupid enough to get on her bad side. And no one is rude enough to enter my room unannounced but you, so they wouldn''t have seen these books."


    "You''re always asleep when we need to visit you!"


    "You knock too softly then. The door is heavy wood so you need to open it slightly and ask to come in." He sifted through the book until he got to the part he was looking for. His eyes moved back and forth to read the page. "Says here a young Voyager was able to blend in and hide from people who could identify the odd color of their eyes by making the light coming from their eyes travel slower than normal. Or that''s just a partial translation from what their journal said. Here, see if this makes any sense to you."


    He held the book out in front of us so I could see the text. It was plainly English. The text read ''I figured out how to make the red in my pupils disappear and turn black like a normal person''s. So I can at least blend in now without scaring people. Unintended discovery, but a discovery nonetheless. Increasing the wavelength didn''t quite create infrared light, though. My research into heat vision will continue!''


    My hand slapped my face. "{Oh gods why are Voyagers so fucking stupid?}" I said in English aloud.


    "I take it you can read it?" He asked.


    "Please tell me this Voyager is dead." I said turning our head to look up at the ceiling.


    "Yeah, he was found with most of his lungs, throat, and mouth coated in ice." Warran turned the book around and started flipping through it some more. "No one knows what exactly he was trying to do."


    I fucking know. The idiot was trying to be Superman. At least this post-atomic bomb Voyager didn''t experiment with nukes. He just wanted to be a superhero... That''s so... childish.


    I looked back forward. "Warran, Voyagers that did detail their previous lives, did they ever say anything about remembering multiple past lives? For example, remembering dying and being reborn many times before finally being born as a Voyager in this world?" Need to confirm that story that Celestine read.


    "Something like that would definitely be one of the highlights in most of these books I have here. No. The Voyagers that went into detail of their time before being reborn never mentioned anything about living before their last life." He paused. "Have you lived more than one life?"


    If that is the case, the Superman Voyager might have died as a child. That makes more sense now.


    "If it is an effect of this binding and surgery experiment or not, I can''t say. But I do have memories of many past lives. They are all sort of merged together, though. So I can''t differentiate common memories because they blur together, but I can remember things like arithmetic and {elementary scientific} facts because those don''t change and they are more commonly known by my later lives."


    "Do you mind if I ask-"


    "Yes. I do mind." I interrupted him before he asked me to go into detail. "Sorry, maybe some other time. We still have this problem to deal with right now." I said, pointing to both our eyes back and forth.


    "Oh right. We got off topic. There you have your solution for the eye. The only thing I can say that might help with bringing the mind back to what it used to be is to meditate. Exploring your self might help you two to understand this... situation you find yourselves in. It might also help to visit the church and pray to your gods. You humans are lucky to have some benevolent gods. Our god, $@#^%@#, is too meddlesome if you ask me."


    "Our?"


    "My, elven god. $@#^%@#, god of justice." He almost spat that last word out. Something tells me Warran isn''t too fond of his god.


    "Ah." I won''t step any further onto that minefield.


    "$&%$^@##$, your god of death and decay, is the one that usually deals with Voyagers. So praying to him might give you some sort of insight or guidance."


    Well that was the god that had to be forced to accept my unbinding during the awaking ritual, so I doubt he will very much like me now. All this talk of gods is starting to get annoying, though. I don''t even know for sure if they''re real or if everything is just made up like Earth gods. I guess in a world of magic, there''s even more of a reason to believe in the gods, but there has to be something else to this.


    "Is it fine if we hold off on magic training until we resolve this?" I asked.


    "I''ll give you seven days, tops. Your father will start to get on my case if he doesn''t see me training you any later than that. If that happens, we will continue the training, but you are forbidden to use the large conduit."


    "That''s... reasonable."


    "I have some more reading to do now. I''ve also letters to write to try to prise more information on god-level affinities out of Sirius. The home country of you apes is so difficult to work with sometimes. I only know of temporal and gravity god-level schools because they''re common knowledge. Who knows what Sirius has locked up in their libraries."


    "We''ll leave it to you, then." I said, hopping off the chair and turning to the door. Looking through the crack of the door, that I forgot to shut all the way, was a single blue eye with strands of blond hair above it.


    <Well poo.> I said to Celestine. I should have been more careful. Sullivan''s room is just a little further from Warran''s office in this wing. And there''s no telling what all he heard or how he interpreted it. <A little help?>


    <Repeat everything I say.> Celestine started.


    And I complied. "G-good morning, Bubby. Did you sleep good?"


    "Who are you? Where''s sis?" Damn he''s sharp for his age.


    "Can we talk? I''ll explain everything!" I said despite Celestine telling me to try to lie to him.


    "Muh-muh-Miss Sylvianna!" He turned and started to run away. Shit shit shit, if he makes too much noise then Daemon will know something''s wrong!


    We started running to him. We bolt out the door and quickly tackle him before he makes it too far from the office. I have to keep a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. He''s actually struggling really hard right now.


    "Ow!" I cried as I felt something hard clamp on my hand. He bit me!


    "Da-" He tried to yell before we got a hand on his mouth again.


    "You don''t bite your big sister! Be quiet, you! Or we''ll never read to you again!" We had Lefty switch places as the one to hold his mouth shut while I pulled his arms behind him and held them in place with Righty. Our legs were wrapped around his legs to stop him from kicking the floor.


    Now that we had him pinned and I couldn''t hear anything but Warran closing his door, I leaned down to whisper into his ear. "Bubby, listen to me. I''m a bit sick right now, but everything is okay. I need you to listen and try to understand. If you promise to not yell, I will take my hand off your mouth, okay? You promise?"


    He tried to move his head side to side at first. We just kept Lefty over his mouth until he reluctantly nodded. I need him to be completely on board because I can''t drag him anywhere, he''s too heavy for us to move while keeping him quiet.


    "You promise?" I asked again. And he immediately nodded this time. Celestine slowly lifted her hand off his mouth and he opened his mouth.


    "DA-" She had his mouth covered again before he could make more noise. He started wriggling more after that. I just barely have him still. If he puts more strength into this, I''ll lose grip.


    <Just start crying! Bubby''s never heard me cry before, it should hit him hard.>


    <That''s dirty!> I said. Fake crying, that''s like advanced level stuff you use in a relationship to guilt the man to acquiesce. Where did she learn something like that?


    <It works in the romance novels! Boys hate to see girls cry!> Ah, maybe I should have stopped her from reading all those novels.


    I sighed in our head. I hate to do this, but there really is no choice is there?


    First of all, I need to get into the mood to cry. Right now I''m just angry at my own stupidity.


    Actors from Earth used to say the best way to get the tears flowing is to think of a tragic event in your life that could get you to cry, like the death of a loved one. I have lifetimes of tragic events, so there isn''t much trouble there. I focus on a more recent memory. It was one of the first memories I recalled in my void world, I committed suicide in that life. I''ve had a lot of time to think about my past lives and something always kept me from examining this one. It was mostly because of how much I hated myself. How could I do something like that to my mama and papa? I was their only child. All of my problems were so petty. If only I had... if only I had talked to them, we could have gotten through it together. Mama, Papa...


    I rested my head on the closest warm thing I could, which was Sullivan''s back, and I started crying over that life. All the wasted potential. There was nothing unfortunate in that life that couldn''t have been overcome. There was no war or violence that I could remember. There was no pestilence. There was no childhood death. My life had been completely in my control. And I ended it. I want to strangle that girl that I once was. I want to replace her and continue living. Sure I might not have lived long after that, karma seems to have a thing with killing me early, but I might have lived long enough to be a mother at least.


    The tragic thought and self-deprecation had brought me to tears without really trying. At some point we lost all grip on Sullivan and we just cried into his back. He was so shocked that he didn''t move or say anything. I had to quickly force myself away from reminiscing or I would have gotten hysterical. That memory might be too much for some crocodile tears, but it did the job.


    <Novos, are you alright?> Celestine asked, probably picking up that this isn''t theatrics.


    <I''m fine, I just reminded myself of a very depressing life. What should we say to Sullivan now? He''s completely confused.>


    <I got this. Say,>


    "B-B-Bubby, please believe me. J-just let me talk to you..." I said stuttering.


    "O-okay, S-Sis." He said in his typical shy voice.


    We managed to get to our feet and he guided us, still crying softly, to the library. He closed the door behind us and we sat on the floor.


    We sat face to face. His eyes were locked onto our right eye. We had no choice now. If we didn''t explain the eye, he would definitely tell Daemon. We could lie, but he distrusts us enough now as it is. We had to let Sullivan in on the secret.