The Laws Of Elios (Book 2) (24 page)

Ava wrapped her arms around his neck and looked up into his eyes.  If you can do what you have to do, I can do what I have to do.  Just promise me something.”

“Anything Mon Cher, name it.” He replied once again
admiring her green eyes.

“Please don’t so something too heroic and make me a widow either before or after we get married.  Shane I worry so much about you.  You seem so fearless all the time and I’m afraid that if you aren’t careful something will happen.  This isn’t warball
, this is serious; it isn’t a game.  I know this is selfish of me and I know that the world needs what you can do but I don’t know what I’d do if something ever happened to you.”

Shane pulled her closer to him and she leaned her head on his shoulder; both remaining silent in the comfort of their embrace.  Shane gently kissed the top of her head.  “Mon Cher, I will be careful
for I want to spend forever with you.  I love you Ava and you need to know that the world may benefit from what I have been positioned to do but I am doing it for you.  Always know that.”

Ava looked up with glistening eyes, “I know, but please promise that you will be careful.”

“I will,” he promised; “on one condition.  Tomorrow morning you come with me to the Valley of the Arc and introduce me to the Gryphon you met earlier today.”

~~~~~

Kaysee awoke the next morning with the voice of Brenner ever present in her mind.  At lease she hadn’t had the nightmares.  Attributing it to the ring that Leo had provided she decided that it must allow some protection from the mage whose consciousness she had picked up so she made up her mind to not take the ring off.

“Are you ready to begin learning nature magic?” Brenner asked congenially as she
ate her breakfast.

“I suppose if it will get you out of my head faster,” she responded.  “What do we need to do?”

“First you need to learn how to acquire natural lumen.  The first step is to recognize it.  I want you to look at the plant on your kitchen window sill.  Look at it and concentrate on seeing the light within; an image of what to look for entered her thoughts.

Kaysee star
ed hard at the plant and at first all she could see was the plant then she noticed a golden glow that surrounded the plant like a halo.  “I can see it, it is a bright golden glow,” She said excitedly.”

“No, no, no,” reprimanded the voice.  That is lumen, but it is useless
to a non-potent like you; it is Elios lumen.  You have no control of that type.   Look for a white spark of light at the heart of the plant.”

Kaysee tried again and while it took several minutes she finally spotted the small spark.  “I found it,” she said hesitantly not wanting another mental scolding.

“Good,” Cooed Brenner soothingly, “now draw it into you.”

“How,” Kaysee puzzled as she tried to will it to come to her.

“Look into yourself and see that you have the same spark; yours will seem quite a bit brighter” explained the voice.  “Imagine a line between the two sparks and then simply will the spark from the plant to follow the line like a pathway to join your own.”

Kaysee did as
she was instructed and after a short struggle was able to get past the golden glow of both her and the plant and connect the two sparks.  With deliberation she concentrated on moving the spark along the line toward her own.  The closer it got the faster it went then suddenly the two merged.  Kaysee suddenly felt off-balance and dizzy.  Her stomach was suddenly refusing the breakfast that she had just eaten.  “I’m going to be sick,” she stammered as she stumbled to the sink and began to lose most of her breakfast.

After a moment the dizziness and nausea diminished.  “What was that,” Kaysee spat as she tried to get the pungent and acidic taste out of her mouth.

“That was a very good first effort” complimented Brenner.

“Then why do I feel like I just swallowed cesspool water.” She responded still spitting into the sink.

“It was likely the plant,” lied Brenner.  “Sometimes if the plant is poisonous or has toxins it will make the mage that borrows its lumen a little bit ill; but I assure you it’s only temporary and it gets easier with time.  After a couple of more tries you will not feel a thing.  I’ll prove it to you.  In the wall behind you there is a mouse living off the crumbs from your floor.  Can you see its spark?”

Kaysee looked at the
base of the wall and soon spied the faint golden glow of lumen.  Looking past the golden glow she saw a blue glow noting a new difference she continued until she saw the life spark of the mouse.  Repeating the process that she had used with the plant she much more quickly drew forth the life lumen from the mouse.  Again the dizziness grabbed hold of her but only briefly, and this time while slightly nauseated she did not feel the need to throw up.  Looking within she noticed that her own spark was noticeably brighter.  “What was that blue glow I saw,” she asked Brenner.  “Also I’ve noticed that with both the plant and the mouse that the gold glow and the sparks of both are now missing.”

“You drained them,” commented Brenner unemotionally.

“What!” Kaysee nearly yelled.  “Are you saying that I just sucked the life out of them and killed them?”

“No, not at all,” lied the voice smoothly.  “They will take a day or two and then will recharge good as new.”  Changing the subject Brenner said, “Now to use the lumen that you just acquired.  I want you to
hold out your hands together in order to form a cup and concentrate on the image of the glass sphere that you found at the overland station back when you first picked up my sphere.  Hold that thought and use your own spark and guide a small amount of the light from that spark along a line into the image of a sphere in your hands; as soon as the sphere forms stop sending the lumen from your spark.”

Kaysee followed the instructions and felt nothing other than a slight tingle as she felt a solid weight of a smooth crystal sphere fall into her hands. “Amazing.” she gasped in astonishment.  “I just did real magic.”

“Excellent,” purred Brenner. “Now for the next step we will make a copy of you and put it into the sphere.”

Kaysee looked at the clock on the wall and saw how late it was.  “I can’t I’m going to be late.  We will have to do this later.”

“It won’t take long, I promise,” the voice seemed to almost plead.

Noting the change of tone Kaysee became suspicious.  “I don’t know
, tell me how it works when we get to the lab and we can try it this evening.”

“I won’t be able to speak with you while you are in the building that you call the lab.  Something there inhibits my ability to converse with you,” the voice grumbled.

“Well we have the trolley ride and the walk to discuss it,” replied Kaysee as she rinsed out the sink, then shrugged into her coat and grabbed her satchel and pocketed a piece of fruit for lunch.  “I can’t be late or someone will worry and if they worry then I will have to explain why I’m late which could jeopardize your existence if they attempt the extraction and get it wrong.”

Luckily Kaysee was the only one on the trolley so she and Brenner were able to discuss how to change the sphere into what Brenner now called
the seed of self.  “If you look you will see nearly every color of the rainbow with in the aura of lumen that is with in you.  Simply borrow a piece of all of it and then using the line of transition like you used to acquire your lumen you concentrate it into a spark that mirrors your own spark of life and then you will it into the sphere.  When it glows red the spell is complete.”

“How do I use the copy,” queried Kaysee.  “I don’t want to find myself in your situation.” 

“If the time arises then you simply reverse the process or as in our case someone absorbs you and you stay there until, “Brenner hesitated a moment, “until you can find your original body or one of someone who has passed away and no longer needs it.”

“That’s disgusting,” Kaysee shuddered, “I could never wear a corps like old clothes.”

“That is why you need to be a mage to accomplish this so that if your new body is crippled or broken you can repair it before your restored self, rejects the new host and can no longer survive with in it.”

The conversation with the mage Brenner ended as Kaysee walked up to the Lab and entered.
  For a moment she felt slightly disoriented, she tensed in anticipation of another attack of pain  like the previous day but to her relief the dizziness faded and she felt her normal self and no sign of the mage Brenner speaking to her mind.

~~~~~

Shew was instructing Nuekirk on the finer details of expletives while cooking breakfast when Ari and Gerard arrived on the Sloop.

“No, no, you have it wrong.  It’s ‘
…Same to you and the horse you rode in on...’  Not same to you and your horse. I swear, boy, are you sure you’re an orphan?  I’ve heard better cussing at a finishing school tea party,” grumped Shew.  Seeing Ari and Gerard walking up the stairs from below into the galley he added hastily, “ahem… and that concludes this morning’s lesson in initial analysis.”

Ari and Gerard chuckled at the cr
usty retired agent’s unsuccessful circumvention of topic as they entered the compact kitchen and dining area.  Ari grabbed a couple of mugs from their hooks and filled one with hot roasters and handed it to his brother, “Here have a seat.”  He then filled his own and took a seat near the starboard porthole.  Looking out he saw nothing but miles of open water.  “Where are we?”

Shew
half tossed half slid a plate of bacon onto the table and Nuekirk brought a plate of biscuits and the pot of roasters placing them next to the bacon.  Shew dropped four plates with utensils next to Ari, “Here pass those around while you try to remember how to say thanks for sharing your breakfast.” He said ignoring his former protégé’s question.  “Take a seat kid,” he said to Nuekirk as the young man carried a large pan of scrambled eggs to the table.  “I’ll get the gravy.”

Placing the pot of white sausage gravy with a ladle, on the table Shew pulled up a chair at the end of the table and without preamble began piling food on his plate.  “We’re about forty
milos west of Jehhet harbor,” Shew said as he ladled gravy over the pile of halved biscuits buried in eggs and bacon.  Yesterday afternoon we found out that there were five schooners set to sail towards Lu Y Onton full of a few hundred of their wrist band soldiers so we got up early and used the portal to fill em up with sea water.  Not enough to sink em mind you but full enough to make em unusable. We had so much success we decided to go until it got light.  We probably beached thirty or so craft before it got too light and crews began waking up; so we decide to get breakfast.”

“Good job,” Ari smiled. “I have fond memories of when you showed me how to be creative in my sabotage.”  Changing the subject Ari asked, “How did it go at the Magetech manufacturing building?”

“Like clockwork,” Shew answered as he nibbled on another piece of bacon.  “The wristbands that Shane doctored up for us worked perfectly. After we got the lay out of the guards there we took a stroll through the barracks and the guard house at the palace and we found out some amazing things and may have even discovered a possible ally.”

Ari smiled as Shew explained how during their skulking around the barracks at the palace they had overheard a large captain talking to himself and that if he could get the wristbands removed he would c
hoke the life from the king with his bare hands.  “They’re marching as a troop to the outskirts of Jehhet to get loaded up with wristbands sometime today and then marching west to gather up more conscripts and people for whatever it is they are up to, first thing tomorrow morning,” Shew wrapped up.

“I have a plan,” Ari said at last, “but first I need you get Gerard up to speed.  He is going to take our spots at the war meetings from now on
. I need you to introduce him to Roger, Lieutenant Arvada, and Jacques.  Brief him on the politics, who we have helped and with what and why.  While you do that I’m going to see if I can get as many blue dots as I can from Shane before him and Ava head out to start doing stuff you don’t want to know about.  If I’m not back before the meeting starts use a portal to get him there, make introductions then leave and meet me back here.” Ari turned to his brother.  “Gerard, you will have to probably take a taxi home.”

Gerard stoically took in the fast pace that Ari was planning and moving.  “Just one thing,” Gerard asked his older brother.  “Please ask Shane to talk to Louisa regarding my
glyphs.”

“I completely forgot about that,” Ari said with a smile, “I’ll have to have you fill me in when we get time later today.
  I recall how Shane ‘
conveniently’
forgot to tell me what would happen when I got my personal glyphs.  I swear these glyph masters are worse than kids with their jokes”

“Look who’s talking,” retorted Gerard with bark.

~~~~~

Per his habit before going anywhere,
Shane had gathered his backpack and was stuffing it with various notebooks, and various magical bits and pieces that he had made or was in the process of making - both as experiments and for defense against Allyant lumen - when Ava walked into his office.